The Indian Panorama

Tag: Dallas

  • DISD chief’s reforms are not enough, says Mayor Rawlings

    DISD chief’s reforms are not enough, says Mayor Rawlings

    DALLAS (TIP): For the first time, members of the public are getting to listen to presentations and ask questions about the DISD Home Rule initiative March 20 night. The face of the Home Rule initiative is a non-profit group called Support Our Public Schools (SOPS).

    SOPS is pushing the overhaul of governance at DISD, which must first be supported by roughly 25,000 petition signatures. Once that happens, the board of trustees would appoint a committee to craft recommendations on exactly how DISD should be locally run. The founders of the movement are a handful of Dallas residents whose faces most won’t recognize, but they have the support of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, who said he wants change at DISD and wants it now.

    “I think what I’m trying to say is we’ve got such a serious situation that we are going to have to do something disruptive,” Rawlings said. “Incremental steps are not going to help a fourth grader in his or her next eight years.” But six months ago, Rawlings was the chief defender of DISD Superintendent Mike Miles and his reform initiative Destination 20-20. Today, Rawlings said Miles initiatives are not enough.

    “These things have got to change faster, better, and with a greater sense of urgency,” Rawlings said. “So let’s not change anything Miles is doing, let’s take the handcuffs off on something’s that he articulated that would be great for him to do.” What could be a problem for Rawlings is that Miles is not supporting the Home Rule concept. He’s not opposing it either, but told the Dallas Morning News Editorial Board Wednesday, “I didn’t initiate this and I didn’t say we should have this. You asked me whether there was a wish list of things we could have.

    I’m not the one pushing for a change.” News 8 asked the Mayor if not getting the superintendent’s endorsement could hurt the Home Rule campaign. “If you look at his quotes, I applaud them — that’s the sort of superintendent I want,” Rawlings said. “It’s not his job to whine that he doesn’t have enough resources, his job is to get the job done.” The question is, will the mayor need Mike Miles support to sell the Home Rule initiative? Maybe not. A check of the “Support Our Public Schools” Facebook page reveals an impressive list of luminaries who are supporting it. But even more important are the voters and what they are saying about it, and Thursday night, there is sure to be a segment of those who believe the governance of DISD is just fine.

  • Veterans unemployment rises in Texas, falls nationally

    Veterans unemployment rises in Texas, falls nationally

    DALLAS (TIP): The unemployment rate of military veterans rose in Texas last year, showing it’s still tough for returning soldiers to find a job even as the economy improves.Rates are highest among veterans who have returned home since the September 2001 terrorist attacks.

    In Texas, 19,000 of those veterans, or 8.7 percent, were out of work last year, according to information released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s up from 8.3 percent in 2012 and much higher than the 2013 average unemployment rate of 6.3 percent for all Texans. A similar trend was seen for all veterans in 2013: While the unemployment rate in Texas rose slightly, it declined nationally.

    Andy Nguyen, a former U.S. Marine and president of Dallas nonprofit Honor Courage Commitment, thinks part of the reason for the increase in Texas is that more veterans are returning to Texas or moving here to look for work.”I have seen more companies be more receptive about hiring veterans,” said Nguyen, whose nonprofit recruits, educates and mentors new veterans. “It’s getting better each year, but there’s still a huge gap and a long way to go.”

    The U.S. unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans edged down to 9 percent in 2013, from 9.9 percent in 2012. However the number of unemployed vets was the same at 205,000 as more veterans entered the workforce. Also, last year’s rate was well above the nation’s overall unemployment rate of 6.7 percent for 2013. When Glenn Roper retired as an Army lieutenant colonel last August without another job, he and his family sat down to make some tough decisions.

    He gave up his gym membership, his wife cut manicures and pedicures, his two teenagers didn’t play youth sports, and they ate out less. Roper landed a job in late October as an inventory analyst with a Dallas wireless equipment provider after searching for six months. He credits networking through LinkedIn and Nguyen’s group with helping him get hired. Still, he said it was a major transition – and one that many veterans struggle with. “You have to get into the corporate life,” Roper, 49, said. “You have to learn a new language. You have to learn to sell yourself. I had to go get a business suit.”

    Women, younger vets
    Women and younger veterans have fared the worst in the job market. “Women have a lot more to deal with – they’re often mothers with families to maintain – and more of our recent veterans are women,” said Jim Reid, president of Momentum Texas Inc., a Dallas nonprofit that helps new veterans find a job or start a business. “People returning from Afghanistan and Iraq need down time. A lot of them tend to be very young with no employment experience.”

  • Missing Pregnant Mother Found Dead In Dallas

    Missing Pregnant Mother Found Dead In Dallas

    DALLAS (TIP): One week after she went missing, a pregnant Dallas woman was found dead about two miles from the location where she was last seen. On the morning of March 14 the body of an unidentified black female was found in the 1200 block of Presidio Avenue.

    The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s office later positively identified the body as that of D’Lisa Kelley. After days of searching for the woman Dallas police Lieutenant Max Geron said, “This is now a homicide investigation.” Kelley, who was also mother to a young son, was last seen late in the afternoon on March 7.

    According to police, the pregnant 24-year-old headed out from a friend’s home to attend a wake, but never showed up. One person reported to authorities that Kelley made an unintentional call on her cellphone some time after leaving the friend’s home. Sounds of an argument could be heard in the background.

    The call disconnected and Kelley could not be reached after. Authorities have not released Kelley’s cause of death. Police are now asking that anyone who may have seen anything suspicious on March 7 or has information about Kelley’s murder to contact Dallas police at 214-671-4268.

  • FBI docs reveal alleged Islamist terror training compound in Texas

    FBI docs reveal alleged Islamist terror training compound in Texas

    AUSTIN, TX (TIP): About three hours away from Austin, Texas, sits what declassified FBI documents say is an alleged Islamist training compound, the Clarion Project reported Tuesday, March 11.

    According to the Clarion Project, the enclave in Texas is one of 22 such compounds owned by the group, Muslims of the Americas, an organization linked to radical Pakistani Muslim cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani. According to the documents obtained by Clarion, the network is headquartered in “Islamberg,” a community in rural New York.

    The Texas compound, located in Brazoria County near Sweeny, is known as “Mahmoudberg.” According to Clarion, a spokesman for the group declared the U.S. to be a Muslim-majority country, a claim easily debunked.Clarion also cited a 2007 FBI report that said MOA members have been involved in at least 10 murders, one disappearance, three firebombings, one attempted firebombing, two explosive bombings and one attempted bombing.

    “The documented propensity for violence by this organization supports the belief the leadership of the MOA extols membership to pursue a policy of jihad or holy war against individuals or groups it considers enemies of Islam, which includes the U.S. Government. Members of the MOA are encouraged to travel to Pakistan to receive religious and military/terrorist training from Sheikh Gilani,” the document added.

    Local residents have reported gunfire in the area, but that is common in rural Texas. Clarion posted pictures of shells it claims to have found in the vicinity. The compound was also the site of a 2002 shooting incident where one member of the group reportedly shot another. FBI documents revealed that group members did not cooperate with authorities and women wearing veils were not permitted to speak directly with officers.

    The organization has been in Texas since the 1980s and maintains an outreach facility in Houston, Clarion added. Authorities also raided a nearly 45-acre “compound” about 70 miles south of Dallas in 1991 after a MOA/Jamaat-ul-Fuqra bomb plot in Toronto was foiled. The organization is allowed to operate in the country, Clarion said, because the State Department has not designated MOA/Jamaat ul-Fuqra as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

    “The group is thus permitted to organize in the U.S. until that happens,” Clarion said, even though the State Department has recognized the organization’s terrorist agenda. In 1998, the State Department called the group an “Islamic sect that seeks to purify Islam through violence.” “Jamaat ul-Fuqra has never been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. It was included in several recent annual terrorism reports under ‘other terrorist groups,’ i.e., groups that had carried out acts of terrorism but that were not formally designated by the Secretary of State.

    However, because of the group’s inactivity during 2000, it was not included in the most recent terrorism report covering that calendar year,” a State Department spokesman said in 2002. Nevertheless, the FBI is concerned about the organization, and Clarion said the group needs to be designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization “before it’s too late.”

  • Texas dad killed daughter, her lesbian lover because he disliked that she was gay: mom

    Texas dad killed daughter, her lesbian lover because he disliked that she was gay: mom

    DALLAS (TIP): A Texas dad disgusted with his daughter’s lesbian lifestyle murdered the young woman and her lover, the girl’s mother said in a shocking twist to a gruesome case.

    James Cosby, 46, bludgeoned his daughter Britney Cosby to death and shot her lover, Crystal Jackson, on March 6 before dumping the bodies near the ferry gate in Port Bolivar, Texas, police believe.The bodies were found near a Dumpster around 7:30 a.m. the next day outside a Fisherman’s Cove food mart.

    Both women were 24. Britney’s mother told KHOU-TV that Cosby was angry his daughter was gay. “He said it to me a few times that he did not like the idea of her being gay,” Loranda McDonald told the TV station. “But, like I told him, there’s nothing we could do about that. That’s who she is. We can’t change her lifestyle.”

    Capital murder charges are pending against James Cosby, a registered sex offender released from prison in October, Galveston Sheriff Office Capt. Barry Cook told the Daily News. The murder weapons have not been recovered and Britney Cosby’s recently purchased 2006 Kia Sorento is still missing. (Source: KHOU-TV)

  • University of Texas, San Antonio wins Bhangra competition

    University of Texas, San Antonio wins Bhangra competition

    DALLAS (TIP): As in the past, competitions in Bhangra- the folk dance of Punjab- and Garba- the folk dance of Gujarat- were held at Southern Methodist University of Dallas. It was a kind of a record breaking event in which a large number of organizations participated and a very large number of audiences turned up.

    The event was jointly managed by Indian Punjabi Students’ Association and Punjabi Cultural Association of Dallas. 7 Bhangra teams and 6 Garba teams vied for honors. It is worth mentioning that spectators were thrilled to watch the Bhangra performances in which the local youth participated who presented the folk dance of Punjab in different styles.

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    The performances were so good that the three judges had a great difficulty in deciding their order of merit. However, the three judges unanimously decided that University of Texas, San Antonio Bhangra team was the best performer. The second position went to the Massachusetts team.

    In a joint statement, the PCANT group members Gurinder Daula, Manjit Johal, chairman Kuldip Dhillon and president Jasmel Sandhu, said that the quality of performances was excellent and that the young participants must be encouraged in every way. The ceremonies were conducted by Parminder Singh Deo, Javin Malli, Osama Siddiqui and Nimesh Patel. The organizers had a special word of appreciation and gratitude for Radio Wasda Rahe Punjab and Fun Asia.

  • Indian woman accused of killing husband in US faces life term

    Indian woman accused of killing husband in US faces life term

    DALLAS (TIP): US prosecutors have rested their case against a 27-yearold Indian-origin woman, who faces life sentence for allegedly killing her husband by setting him afire two years ago.

    Shriya Patel’s trial began on March 4 in Austin,Texas, with prosecutors accusing her of luring her husband into the bathtub for a massage, dousing him with gasoline and then setting him ablaze before shutting him in the bathroom. Bimal Patel, 29, died at the burn centre of the San Antonio Military Medical Center, nearly five months after the April 17, 2012, incident.

    Judge David Crain told jurors the defense will begin making its case today. In testimony yesterday, the state presented evidence from DNA experts who said Shriya Patel’s fingerprints were found on a 10-gallon white bucket that contained gasoline and plastic bags that witnesses have said were used to cover the sprinklers in the couple’s North Austin apartment. Testing results on prints found on a red gas can could not be matched to her, witnesses said.

    She faces a life sentence in prison without parole if convicted, the Austin American- Statesman reported. Under cross-examination, the crime scene specialists testified that they were not asked to test the materials in the apartment until last month, nearly two years after the incident. The defense received the DNA evidence on Monday, they said. The evidence came during a heated cross-examination of an arson investigator in the capital murder trial for Shriya Patel.

    Her lawyers are arguing that her husband killed himself and forced her to help. In opening statement, assistant district attorney Jim Young said Bimal Patel, who had been born in India, “grew up basically an American kid” in Amarillo. He went to Texas Tech and moved to Austin, where he became involved in business, but his father was a traditionalist and had pushed him to seek a partner through an arranged marriage service in India, the prosecutor said.

    Through this service, he submitted a resume and met Shriya Patel, Young said. The two married, but it took about a year for her to get her passport to come to the US, and she had only been in the country a week when she decided to kill her husband, the prosecutor said.

  • Mother searching for missing Texas teen last seen on Butler campus

    Mother searching for missing Texas teen last seen on Butler campus

    INDIANAPOLIS (TIP) – A 15-year-old boy more then eight hundred miles away from home is missing in Indianapolis. Stephen Colbert is in town from Wylie, Texas, which is close to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

    He’s here to take part in a large band festival called the Music For All National Festival. School administrators said there are about 60 students and chaperones in their specific delegation.According to IMPD, the last time anyone saw the 15-year-old was Thursday night at Clowes Hall on the campus of Butler University.Friday night the teen’s mother came to Indianapolis on a frantic search for answers.

    She’s talking to police and desperate to find her son. Kristen Colbert said her son Stephen wouldn’t simply disappear. “I just need more answers. I feel like I’m in the dark,” she told FOX 59 moments after arriving in Indianapolis. She hopped on a plane Friday afternoon from Dallas to Indianapolis. Colbert said her son, a clarinet player, is a good student, a model big-brother, and responsible young man.

    “The last text message was at two o’clock yesterday. He told me he’d arrived safely here in Indianapolis and that was the last contact I had with him,” said Colbert.Colbert tells us Stephen left the JW Marriott on Thursday and went to performances at Butler’s campus with his school group that night. He promised he’d call and keep her in the loop. But Stephen never checked back into his hotel room Thursday night.

    IMPD said there’s surveillance video showing he never got back off the bus at the hotel.“I’m glad I’m here. I need to search for him and try and find him and bring him home,” said Kristen Colbert.IMPD and Butler Police searched the area around campus Friday with no luck. Police said right now, this isn’t being investigated as an abduction case, so talking to Colbert’s parents is crucial.His mother brought the student’s laptop for police to analyze.

    While Kristen Colbert is in Indianapolis, her husband is in Texas, with plans to come to the city soon.“He’s not the type of kid who would run away. He’s pretty serious-minded,” said Erick Colbert, in an interview with our Dallas-Fort Worth FOX affiliate.Both parents are hoping someone in Indianapolis can help them find Stephen. Administrators with the Wylie ISD in Wylie, Texas are on the way to Indianapolis. The superintendent and others were to have arrived by plane Friday night.

  • Texas City working to turn sewer water into tap water

    Texas City working to turn sewer water into tap water

    NORTH TEXAS (TIP): Drastic times call for drastic measures. But what would it take for you to drink tap water that had been recycled straight from the sewer? The concept sounds crazy but it could happen soon in one North Texas city.

    Wichita Falls is two hours outside of Dallas. Three years ago 88-percent of Texas was under exceptional drought conditions – that’s the worst classification of drought. Today there are just two small areas that still have that designation and the city of Wichita Falls is in one of them. You need drive no further than nearby Lake Arrowhead to see how bad the drought is.

    The lake is one of the main water sources for the town, but it’s only at about 27-percent capacity. Boat docks stand 10 to 15 feet above dry land and the nearest water is hundreds of feet away. The lake bed is littered with dead fish and shells. When the wind blows you’re reminded of a dustbowl. Every time the water in the lake drops, officials in Wichita Falls consider enacting more severe water restrictions.

    Through conservation efforts, city water usage dropped from between 45 and 50 million gallons of water each day before the drought, to 12 million gallons a day now. But the water savings still aren’t enough. “This reuse system will put five million gallons [of water] back in the distribution system a day,” explained Mayor Glenn Barham. “So, it saves us taking five million gallons out of the lake.” The city, no stranger to droughts, started planning for the water to run out about two years ago.

    A plan which had years earlier been previously suggested, and dropped, was now back on the table: take water straight from the waste treatment facility and send it to the water treatment plant for extra cleaning, and then distribution into the water system. Now there’s a big black pipe that snakes through town connecting the city’s waste water facility to the water treatment plant. Currently the city is in the process of completing 45 days of testing.

    They send the results to the state environmental quality department. Once there the department will take 30 days to decide whether the water is safe enough to put directly into the tap. The program could go online as early as April. As far as the testing is concerned – folks there say so far, so good.Public utilities operations manager Daniel Nix said, “We evaluated the waste-water first to see what kind of quality we would be dealing with.

    The wastewater quality coming out of that plant was very high, so we didn’t have a lot of things to deal with.” The quality test results meant the city didn’t have to do much to turn the water from effluent to something in a glass you might want to drink. But will residents want to drink it? Many we talked to already use bottled or filtered water. No one has gone unscathed in the drought. They all understand the city is in a serious situation.

  • AT&T is bringing its super fast broadband service to Dallas

    AT&T is bringing its super fast broadband service to Dallas

    AT&T Inc. plans to soon offer its ultrahigh-speed fiber service to customers in North Texas. “We are going to launch this service in Dallas this summer,” CEO Randall Stephenson said at atechnology conference today in California.

    As the launch gets closer, the company plans to offer more details. Last December, AT&T introduced the service – which it calls U-verse with GigaPower – in Austin, in competition there with Google. At the time, Stephenson said his company was likely to offer the service in other cities. “The economics of fiber deployment are really starting to look good,” he said.

    In Austin, AT&T said its fiber Internet broadband network would deliver speeds up to 1 gigabit per second. Along with faster Internet access, the fiber connection will also deliver advanced TV services. In a statement today, March 6, the company said that sales of U-verse with GigaPower in Austin have surpassed expectations and are the reason the company is expanding service to twice as many Austin households this year.

  • Feds and Dallas police bust 10 massage parlors, arrest 21 foreign nationals

    Feds and Dallas police bust 10 massage parlors, arrest 21 foreign nationals

    DALLAS (TIP): A local police task force has raided 10 Dallas massage parlors suspected of prostitution and arrested 21 foreign nationals on immigration charges, federal authorities said. The North Texas Trafficking Task Force served search warrants Wednesday at businesses located in the 11300 block of Emerald Street and the 2100 block of North Northwest Highway.

    The businesses also are suspected of harboring illegal immigrants, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division and Dallas police took part in the bust, in which 18 women from Thailand were arrested for immigration violations along with three from South Korea.

    One of the women was also charged with possessing methamphetamine. The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office will decide whether to bring additional charges related to running an illegal sex-oriented business. Search warrants also were served at the Irving home of a business owner.

    Federal agents seized about $640,000 in cash, along with computers, cell phones and documents. Authorities are cracking down on the sex industry to rescue victims of human trafficking and arrest those responsible, said David M. Marwell, special agent in charge of HSI Dallas. “However, the best way of attacking human trafficking is by increasing public awareness of this crime,” he said. Dallas police vice officers have made numerous prostitution cases during the investigation, ICE said.

    Investigators want to know whether women were forced into working at the massage parlors. The investigation “revealed a revolving door of owners and female workers” in the 10 massage parlors, which have different owners, ICE said. “The employees are often rotated throughout the United States to work in other massage parlors and prostitution establishments,” ICE said. The owners only visited the massage parlors to pick up money and make bank deposits, according to ICE. The task force is made up of 17 law enforcement agencies whose mission is to prosecute human traffickers and rescue their victims.

  • 2014 ACADEMY AWARDS WINNERS

    2014 ACADEMY AWARDS WINNERS

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    BEST PICTURE
    WINNER: 12 Years a Slave
    Nominees: American Hustle; Captain Phillips; Dallas Buyers Club;
    Gravity; Her; Nebraska;
    Philomena; The Wolf of Wall Street;
    12 Years a Slave

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    BEST ACTOR WINNER:
    Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
    Nominees: Christian Bale, American Hustle;
    Bruce Dern, Nebraska;Leonardo DiCaprio,
    The Wolf of Wall Street; Matthew McConaughey,
    Dallas Buyers Club; Chiwetel Ejiofor,
    12 Years a Slave

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    BEST ACTRESS
    WINNER: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
    Nominees: Amy Adams, American Hustle;
    Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine; Sandra Bullock,
    Gravity; Judi Dench, Philomena;
    Meryl Streep,
    August: Osage County

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    BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
    WINNER: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
    Nominees: Barkhad Abdi, Captain
    Phillips; Bradley Cooper, American
    Hustle; Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a
    Slave; Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street;
    Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

    BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
    WINNER: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
    Nominees: Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine; Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle;Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave; Julia Roberts, August: Osage County; June Squibb, Nebraska

    BEST DIRECTOR
    WINNER: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
    Nominees: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity; Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave; Alexander Payne, Nebraska; David O. Russell, American Hustle; Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

    BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
    WINNER: Frozen
    Nominees: The Croods; Despicable Me 2; Ernest & Celestine; Frozen; The Wind Rises

    BEST FOREIGN FILM
    WINNER: The Great Beauty
    Nominees: The Broken Circle Breakdown,Belgium; The Great Beauty, Italy; The Hunt,Denmark; The Missing Picture, Cambodia; Omar,
    Palestine

    BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
    WINNER: Her, Spike Jonze
    Nominees: American Hustle, Eric Singer and David O. Russell; Blue Jasmine,Woody Allen; Dallas Buyers Club, Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack; Her,Spike Jonze; Nebraska, Bob Nelson

    BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
    WINNER: 12 Years a Slave, John Ridley
    Nominees: Before Midnight, Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke;Captain Phillips, Billy Ray; Philomena, Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope; 12 Years a Slave, John Ridley; The Wolf of Wall Street, Terence Winter

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    BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
    WINNER: Gravity
    Nominees: The Book Thief;
    Gravity; Her;
    Philomena;
    Saving Mr. Banks

    BEST ORIGINAL SONG
    WINNER: Let It Go, from Frozen
    Nominees: Alone Yet Not Alone, from Alone Yet Not Alone; Happy, from Despicable Me 2; Let It Go, from Frozen;
    The Moon Song, from Her; Ordinary Love, from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

    BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
    WINNER: Gravity
    Nominees: The Grandmaster; Gravity; Inside Llewyn Davis; Nebraska; Prisoners

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    BEST COSTUME DESIGN
    WINNER: The Great Gatsby
    Nominees: American Hustle;
    The Grandmaster;
    The Great Gatsby;
    The Invisible Woman;
    12 Years a Slave

    BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
    WINNER: 20 Feet From Stardom
    Nominees: The Act of Killing; Cutie and the Boxer; Dirty Wars;The Square; 20 Feet From Stardom

    Best documentary short subject
    WINNER: The Lady in Number 6
    Nominees: CaveDigger; Facing Fear; Karama Has No Walls; The Lady in Number 6; Music Saved My Life; Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

    BEST FILM EDITING
    WINNER: Gravity
    Nominees: American Hustle; Captain Phillips; Dallas Buyers Club; Gravity; 12 Years a Slave

    BEST MAKEUP AND
    HAIRSTYLING
    WINNER: Dallas Buyers Club
    Nominees: Dallas Buyers Club; Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa; The Lone Ranger

  • $60 Million TexasHS Stadium Closed

    $60 Million TexasHS Stadium Closed

    ALLEN, TX (TIP): A $60 million Texas high school stadium that got national attention for its grandeur and price tag will be shut down indefinitely 18 months after its opening, school district officials said Thursday, February 27. Eagle Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Allen will be closed until at least June for an examination of “extensive cracking” in the concrete of the stadium’s concourse, the district said in a statement Thursday.

    The closure will likely affect home games at the stadium this fall, the district said. Ben Pogue of Pogue Construction, which built the stadium, told reporters that the cracks range from a quarterinch to three-quarters of an inch wide. “There are concerns surrounding the stadium, but we have been — for a long time — part of the solution,” Pogue said, according to the Dallas Morning News. “I’m optimistic that we’re going to have a quick resolve to this that will not affect the football season that’s coming up.”

    Built in 2012 as part of a $120 million bond issue, Eagle Stadium seats 18,000 people and sports a 38-foot-wide video board. Eagle Stadium’s opening was a moment of triumph for the community of Allen, a fast-growing Dallas suburb that has become home to a high school football powerhouse. The Eagles won the Class 5A Division I state championship last year. District officials defended the cost — an eye-popping figure even in footballmad Texas, home to hundreds of schools playing under the “Friday Night Lights” — by calling the stadium an investment for generations of future Eagles fans and a much-needed upgrade from the district’s previous 35-year-old field.

    They planned to host state playoff games and other events at Eagle Stadium. Instead, the district’s graduation ceremonies and all other events are now on hold indefinitely. “This is a significant investment for our community. We are very disappointed and upset that these problems have arisen,” interim superintendent Beth Nicholas said. “It is unacceptable. Our students, families, and the entire community have always supported the district and our commitment to them is to make sure this issue is appropriately resolved.” Officials said an engineering firm has completed about 10 percent of its review of the stadium.

    It is expected to recommend “appropriate” repairs, the statement said. “Our No. 1 priority must always be the safety of our students, staff and community,” Louise Master, Allen’s ISD board president, said in a release. “We do not have information at this point that confirms any areas outside of the concourse could be affected, but the most prudent thing to do, to absolutely assure the safety of students, staff and the community, is to keep the facility closed during this review.” PBK Architects, the Texas firm that designed the stadium, did not return a message seeking comment Thursday.

  • Dallas task force working on ‘dramatic ideas’ for Fair Park

    Dallas task force working on ‘dramatic ideas’ for Fair Park

    DALLAS, TX (TIP): A nine-member task force on the future of Fair Park has been meeting privately for several months and is expected to issue recommendations to Mayor Mike Rawlings by May, according to a report in Dallas News. The task force, appointed by Rawlings, meets at 8 a.m. each Tuesday at offices of the Meadows Foundation.

    The meetings are not open to the public, even though Rawlings might eventually submit task force recommendations to the Dallas City Council for action. “The purpose of this group is to give me dramatic ideas,” Rawlings said Thursday. “We may or may not do them. People have talked about how we get more people living and working down there. Within the park itself, how do we use that space?” Task force members contacted this week by The News were tight-lipped and hesitant to discuss any new ideas to pump life into the 277-acre park, which is best known for hosting the annual State Fair of Texas.

    Linda Perryman Evans, the task force chairwoman, said she had nothing to report. “The issue is how to revitalize Fair Park and enjoy what is there,” said Evans, president and CEO of the Meadows Foundation. “It is a treasure for our city.” Currently, the city of Dallas owns and operates Fair Park. State Fair of Texas Inc., a tax-exempt corporation, has a contract with the city to use the park for its annual event in September and October.

    Many other community groups occupy space at Fair Park – WRR (101.1 FM), the city-owned classical music station; the Cotton Bowl; the African American Museum; the Music Hall at Fair Park; and the Children’s Aquarium, among others. The park is also home to annual festivals such as KwanzaaFest in December and the North Texas Irish Festival, which begins today and runs through this weekend. The task force’s work comes after news that Summer Adventures at Fair Park, an amusement park, will not return in 2014. The State Fair conceived of Summer Adventures as a way to make money and get more use out of the park.

    Attendance was disappointing, however. Undoubtedly, the task force is reviewing whether city government should turn over management of Fair Park to a private company. Previous master plans speculated that a private not-for-profit company, an overarching commission or a separate taxing authority might be better management vehicles than city government. “I think before we are through, there will be a lot of discussion about who should manage the park,” said Max Wells, a task force member and president of the Dallas park board, one of the many boards and commissions that report to the City Council.

    In recent years, city government has privatized operations at the Dallas Zoo. The city also sold the Dallas Farmers Market to private operators last June. Rawlings said city government is not going to sell Fair Park. “That option is not on the table,” he said. Other task force members echoed that sentiment. Diane Ragsdale, another task force member, is executive director of Innercity Community Development Corporation in South Dallas. She builds houses for lowincome people in the Fair Park area. “We are still struggling with the options for what recommendations to bring to the mayor,” said Ragsdale, who, like Wells, is a former City Council member.

    “I don’t see any housing development in Fair Park. That is not one of our considerations.” Two other task force members, Mark Langdale and Jack Matthews, are highpowered real estate developers. The mayor’s task force is hardly the first effort to reimagine the park. Over the years, perceptions that the Fair Park area is not safe have hampered redevelopment plans in surrounding neighborhoods. Political divisions among the many groups with a stake in the park also make it difficult to bring forth bold change.

    The City Council, the park board, the State Fair, state and local historic preservation societies are only a few of the groups that speak out on Fair Park issues. Protecting art deco buildings constructed for the Texas Centennial in 1936 – think Hall of State – is a top priority for preservationists. The late David Dillon, for years the respected architecture critic for The News, neatly summed up the problem in 1991: “Compared to Fair Park, Eastern Europe is a bureaucratic breeze,” Dillon wrote. “At least 15 boards and organizations have a say in the management of its 277 acres. Because of all the red tape, simple problems often become baroque, and lofty common objectives succumb to parochial turf battles.”

    At a glance: Mayor’s task force on Fair Park
    At the request of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, the following people are meeting weekly to review the management and operations of Fair Park, the city-owned, 277- acre site of the annual State Fair of Texas: Linda Perryman Evans (task force chair), president and CEO of the Meadows Foundation José Bowen, dean of Meadows School for the Arts at SMU Craig Holcomb, former Dallas City Council member and current executive director of Friends of Fair Park Mark Langdale, former president of George W. Bush Foundation and current real estate developer and investor Jack Matthews, president of Matthews Southwest, a real estate development firm Diane Ragsdale, former Dallas City Council member and current executive director of InnerCity Community Development Corp. Mary Suhm, former Dallas city manager Alan Walne, former Dallas City Council member and current chairman of State Fair of Texas Inc. Max Wells, former Dallas City Council member and current president of Dallas Park and Recreation Board

  • Texas City Working To Turn Sewer Water Into Tap Water

    Texas City Working To Turn Sewer Water Into Tap Water

    NORTH TEXAS (TIP): Drastic times call for drastic measures. But what would it take for you to drink tap water that had been recycled straight from the sewer? The concept sounds crazy but it could happen soon in one North Texas city.

    Wichita Falls is two hours outside of Dallas. Three years ago 88-percent of Texas was under exceptional drought conditions – that’s the worst classification of drought. Today there are just two small areas that still have that designation and the city of Wichita Falls is in one of them. You need drive no further than nearby Lake Arrowhead to see how bad the drought is.

    The lake is one of the main water sources for the town, but it’s only at about 27-percent capacity. Boat docks stand 10 to 15 feet above dry land and the nearest water is hundreds of feet away. The lake bed is littered with dead fish and shells. When the wind blows you’re reminded of a dustbowl. Every time the water in the lake drops, officials in Wichita Falls consider enacting more severe water restrictions.

    Through conservation efforts, city water usage dropped from between 45 and 50 million gallons of water each day before the drought, to 12 million gallons a day now. But the water savings still aren’t enough. “This reuse system will put five million gallons [of water] back in the distribution system a day,” explained Mayor Glenn Barham. “So, it saves us taking five million gallons out of the lake.” The city, no stranger to droughts, started planning for the water to run out about two years ago.

    A plan which had years earlier been previously suggested, and dropped, was now back on the table: take water straight from the waste treatment facility and send it to the water treatment plant for extra cleaning, and then distribution into the water system. Now there’s a big black pipe that snakes through town connecting the city’s waste water facility to the water treatment plant. Currently the city is in the process of completing 45 days of testing.

    They send the results to the state environmental quality department. Once there the department will take 30 days to decide whether the water is safe enough to put directly into the tap. The program could go online as early as April. As far as the testing is concerned – folks there say so far, so good. Public utilities operations manager Daniel Nix said, “We evaluated the wastewater first to see what kind of quality we would be dealing with.

    The wastewater quality coming out of that plant was very high, so we didn’t have a lot of things to deal with.” The quality test results meant the city didn’t have to do much to turn the water from effluent to something in a glass you might want to drink. But will residents want to drink it? Many we talked to already use bottled or filtered water. No one has gone unscathed in the drought. They all understand the city is in a serious situation.

  • Police seek teen they say may have run away with former teacher

    Police seek teen they say may have run away with former teacher

    DALLAS (TIP): Dallas police are looking for a 15- year-old girl who they believe may have run away with a former teacher who is wanted for sexual assault.Emelin Lazo, 15, was last seen at 8:30 a.m. Monday, February 17 in the 12000 block of Noel Road.

    The girl had sent her mom a text message that said she wanted to be with Scott Paul Alcaraz, 27. She has not been seen nor heard from since. Police say they believe Lazo is a runaway. Alcaraz was fired from a Thomas C. Marsh Middle School in Dallas in April 2013 after he was charged with two counts of sexual assault.

    According to police, a 14-year-old girl said the former math teacher and assistant basketball coach had sex with her in a classroom at the school.Lazo is described as a 15-yearold Hispanic girl, 5-feet tall, 120 lbs., with black hair and brown eyes. If you have any information regarding Lazo or Alcaraz, please contact the Dallas Police Department Youth Operations Unit at 214.671.4268.

  • Irving Building Evacuated Due to Bomb Threat

    Irving Building Evacuated Due to Bomb Threat

    DALLAS (TIP): An Irving building was evacuated Thursday, February 20 morning due to a bomb threat. According to the Irving Police Department, a receptionist inside a 10-story building on the 5600 block of High Point Drive received a phone call where the caller said a bomb had been placed in the building and that they had one hour to evacuate.

    The Irving Fire Department arrived and made the decision to evacuate the building as a precaution, police said. Shortly after 10:30 a.m., employees who had been evacuated to the parking lot were allowed to return to the building. At this time, police have not revealed any further information.

  • Prophet Muhammad’s Intrafaith-Interfaith Naatia Mushaera – Poetry Session in Richardson on Friday, February 21, 2014

    Prophet Muhammad’s Intrafaith-Interfaith Naatia Mushaera – Poetry Session in Richardson on Friday, February 21, 2014

    DALLAS, TX (TIP): The World Muslim Congress, a think tank of Muslims in Dallas has announced a poetry session known as Naatia Mushaera to honor Prophet Muhammad. “This is a purposeful event with three clear goals; to share Prophet’s work with fellow Americans, to focus on how Muslims can adopt his teachings to benefit the society at large, and to bring Muslims of different denominations together for the common purposecelebrate Prophet Muhammad’s birthday”- said Mike Ghouse, president of the organization.

    The program is set to start at 8:00 PM and end at midnight on Friday, February 21, 2014 at Richardson Civic Center in Richardson, Texas. (Link). The evening is divided into two sessions. The first segment will highlight the Intrafaith and interfaith aspects of the program. Muslims of different denominations including Ahmadiyya, Bohra, Ismaili, Shia, Sunni, WD Muhammad others will share a Naat (poetry singing) each from their community. Then friends from other faiths will also share their Poetry about the Prophet. Women and Men will be reciting the Naats together for the first time.

    The second segment after the tea break is assigned to poets who will recite the purposeful poetry to reflect on Prophet’s work and how we can make that meaningful in our day to day life. “Throughout the program, we will be highlighting the inclusive teachings of the Prophet’s wisdom. The values embedded in the Madinah constitution will be shared, where the prophet signed a declaration with Jews, Christians, Pagans and others. Each member of community was guaranteed the freedom to practice his or her faith freely. Furthermore, in his last sermon, the Prophet declared that all men are created equal, and respecting each human is the right thing to do.

    Like the people of all faiths, Muslims need to go back to the inclusive values taught by the prophet.” added Mike Ghouse. Refreshments, tea, and snacks will be served in addition to the special treat – the king of desserts, Laddu. Shazia Khan will be the master of the ceremonies, and the event will be chaired by a mystery guest of honor, and special guest OS Modgil with host Mike Ghouse. You are invited to, the event which is free but an RSVP is required at the facebook events “Naatia Mushaera” on February 21, 2014 or email to: rsvpforsure@gmail.com .

  • Padma awards for 7 persons under NRI, PIO, foreign category

    Padma awards for 7 persons under NRI, PIO, foreign category

    DALLAS (TIP): Seven persons under the category of foreigners, NRI and PIO have been selected for the Padma awards. Indian-American businessman Ashok Kumar Mago was selected for the Padma Shri. Mr. Mago, Chairman and CEO of Dallas-based business and investment consulting company, Mago & Associates, has helped raise millions of dollars for Dallas Asian organisations.

    Others selected for the Padma Shri are Dr. Siddharth Mukherjee (oncologist) from the U.S., Dr. Vamsi Mootha (biomedical research) also from the U.S., and Dr. Sengaku Mayeda (literature and education) from Japan. Those awarded the Padma Bhushan include Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne H. Rudolph for literature and education (U.S.) and Anisuzzaman, eminent faculty of Bengali language at the University of Dhaka (literature and education), Bangladesh.

  • Texas woman admits to obtaining classified records: Faces 3 years

    Texas woman admits to obtaining classified records: Faces 3 years

    SHERMAN, TX (TIP): Federal prosecutors say a North Texas woman who worked as a translator for U.S. forces in Afghanistan has admitted she illegally obtained classified military records. Thirty-nine-year-old Farida Yusufi pleaded guilty Thursday, February 13 to federal charges that include theft of government records.

    Prosecutors say FBI agents in March searched her McKinney home, north of Dallas, and found classified documents she obtained while embedded with U.S. forces.She admits in court documents to taking a leave schedule and weapons assignment roster for a military unit with which she was embedded in Afghanistan. She’s also accused of making false statements to FBI agents investigating her. She faces at least three years in prison when sentenced.

  • Hit-and-run suspect pulled off plane at DFW airport

    Hit-and-run suspect pulled off plane at DFW airport

    DALLAS (TIP): Authorities in North Texas say they had to pull a suspect in a hit-and-run accident off a plane as he was trying to flee the United States. Arlington police say Omar Bashir Mohammed was detained Wednesday, February 19 night at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

    Police spokesman Lt. Christopher Cook says the 25-year-old Mohammed was on board a plane when he was detained by police. Cook says Mohammed was trying to flee to the Middle Eastern country of Jordan. Authorities say Mohammed hit a pedestrian on a sidewalk with his car on Saturday. He’s accused of one count of an accident involving serious bodily injury. The man, who is in his 70s, was hospitalized in serious condition.

  • Dallas wants to host 2016 RNC

    Dallas wants to host 2016 RNC

    DALLAS, TX (TIP): Republican leaders want to bring the 2016 Republican National Convention to Dallas. The city would need to raise at least $50 million to host the event.

    At least five other cities are vying for the chance to host. The four-day event would be held at the American Airlines Center. American Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose arena, located in the Victory Park neighborhood, near downtown Dallas, Texas.

    The venue serves as the home to the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association, and the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League. The arena is also used for concerts and other live entertainment. It opened in 2001 at a cost of $420 million.Dallas last hosted the convention in 1984, nominating President Ronald Reagan for a second term.

  • Dallas wants to host 2016 RNC

    Dallas wants to host 2016 RNC

    DALLAS, TX (TIP): Republican leaders want to bring the 2016 Republican National Convention to Dallas. The city would need to raise at least $50 million to host the event. At least five other cities are vying for the chance to host.

    The four-day event would be held at the American Airlines Center. American Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose arena, located in the Victory Park neighborhood, near downtown Dallas, Texas.

    The venue serves as the home to the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association, and the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League. The arena is also used for concerts and other live entertainment. It opened in 2001 at a cost of $420 million.Dallas last hosted the convention in 1984, nominating President Ronald Reagan for a second term.

  • No bigotry, please

    No bigotry, please

    We have several Indians contesting congressional elections across the United States and two from Silicon Valley – A Republican and a Democrat. I only wish, I could visit each one of them and ask them to reflect India’s pluralistic ethos in their dealings and not get stuck up with bigotry of exclusive organizations.

    We need to learn to be inclusive to be even more successful,we are all one family, a great gift from Vedic teachings that is completely forgotten by the politicians there, and I hope the Indian America Politicians here will least learn from Tulsi Gabbard before they launch, and I am going to set up my shop for the upcoming congress persons to learn to be pluralistic.

    60% of Americans have liked the Coke commercials in a Dallas Morning News Survey, 20% are happy about it, but we still have 20% that did not like inclusion. 72% of Americans believe that there are multiple paths to God; Jesus is not the only one.

    America is moving towards Pluralism, and we need to guard these values, to ensure generations of Americans will enjoy living in America, and our kids and grand kids will not be subjected to bigotry. Have we taught our kids to be biased towards other people? If we have, we have poisoned them, at least guard ourselves from biasing others.

  • Indian-origin woman booked for killing son in Texas: Says she’s innocent

    Indian-origin woman booked for killing son in Texas: Says she’s innocent

    DALLAS (TIP): A Frisco woman, Pallavi Dhawan, charged with murder in the death of her 10-year-old son says she didn’t kill him. Arnav Dhawan was found dead in a bathtub Dec. 30 at his parents’ home.

    Pallavi’s attorney, David Finn, said Monday, February 10 that the toxicology reports on Arnav are back, but they are being reviewed by the medical examiner and likely will not be made public for about a week. Frisco Police said that Arnav’s mother, Pallavi Dhawan, confessed to killing her son — when asked by officers if she killed Arnav, they say she nodded her head, indicating yes.

    But Finn and Sumeet, Pallavi’s husband, say that never nodded her head. “I did nothing to cause his death,” Pallavi Dhawan said Monday in an exclusive interview with FOX 4. Pallavi says when she picked Arnav up from school the day before his death, she knew something was wrong. “He came, we went home, I offered him a snack,” said Pallavi. “He didn’t want to have a snack, which was a little bit unusual. So I offered him some grapes.

    He had a few bites of grapes and then he didn’t feel like eating. He said, ‘I don’t feel like eating. Can we go somewhere out?’” Pallavi says they went out to a movie, but Arnav said he was tired and wanted to go home, so she took him to Toys “R” Us and then their house. “I said, ‘Why don’t you just, you know, change and go to sleep?’” said Pallavi. “And he said, ‘You know, I don’t feel like changing.’ And he was still looking…he had to see if his Smurfs was recorded.

    That was important to him. So he checked if his Smurfs was recorded. He checked that, but then he was so tired, he didn’t feel like changing. And I could see that he was tired. He said, ‘I’m tired and I’m feeling little bit cold.’ So then I said, you know, ‘OK,’ and I touched him and he did seem a little bit cold, but there was no fever or anything.” Pallavi says she read Arnav a story and put him to bed, but he got up twice, complaining of being cold.

    “This time, I decided to stay with him, and I slept next to him,” she said. “…I woke up Saturday morning, I tried to wake him up, and he wouldn’t get up.” “And what did you think at first?” FOX 4’s Shaun Rabb asked. “At first I thought…he just didn’t want to wake up,” said Pallavi. “And then you realized that he was dead?” asked Rabb. “I think I knew, but I didn’t want to believe it,” said Pallavi.

    The mother says she picked up her son and realized he had relieved himself in his pants. “…I actually picked him up,” she said. “I picked him up, Shaun; I picked him up. I picked him up. I held on to him and I took him to the bathtub, because I didn’t want to believe he’s gone. I took him to the bathtub…’cause he was feeling a bit cold to me.”

    Pallavi says tried to save Arnav. “So I tried to push on his chest and just blow on his mouth, saying, ‘Get up!’” said Pallavi. “He wouldn’t open his eyes. He wouldn’t bend his arms. It took me a while to just tell myself, ‘He’s gone. He’s gone.’ And he was there, lying there, and I’m looking at him…he’s not there. What do I do next?’ Pallavi said she put shopping bags full of ice around Arnav to preserve his body for her husband, who was away on a business trip at the time.