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Before Boy Scout Vote, Activists In Both Camps Sound Off

Courtney Collins
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KERA News

Five Stories that have North Texas talking: people for and against banning gay scouts speak up, Van Cliburn competition kicks-off without namesake, a Texas company builds fuchsia homes for flora and fauna and more.

With a historic vote looming, activists on both sides of the Boy Scout ban are organizing in North Texas. Delegates are expected to vote tomorrow on whether a ban on openly gay scout membership should be lifted. But not surprisingly, we’re already hearing arguments from both camps.

A group against the resolution to lift the ban gathered in Collin County Friday to protest. And an openly gay scout and gay former scout leaders will hold a press conference this afternoon to speak in favor of it.

KERA spoke to a scout leader this weekend about the implications of the vote. He pointed out that it will be interesting to see how charter organizations like churches and PTAs react.

  • A Gut Wrenching Wait: All eyes remain on Oklahoma as rescue efforts wind down and recovery and rebuilding ramps up after Monday’s deadly EF5 tornado tore through Moore. A Fort Worth woman was on edge in a way most of us can’t understand as she frantically combed the internet for a sign that her granddaughter survived. The child is a second grader at Plaza Towers Elementary, the school where students were killed during the storm. Happily, Facebook and television coverage helped confirm that Makenzie is safe and well. [WFAA]

  • Without Van Cliburn, Competitors Play On: Every four years, North Texas has the honor of hosting the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. But this year’s competition will be the first in the history of the event to proceed without its namesake. Cliburn died from cancer in February and will be noticeably absent from tonight’s traditional “draw party" which determines competition order. Read and listen to Bill Zeeble’s complete KERA story here.

  • Credit Caliber Biotherapeutics / Caliber Biotherapeutics
    /
    Caliber Biotherapeutics
    Red and blue LED lights fuel indoor growing.

    Vertical Farming? We’re Tickled Pink: Gardening from the ground, skyward instead of the horizon, outward is a topic generating major buzz. But instead of building outdoor skyscrapers to produce leafy greens, experts say the future of vertical farming lies inside suburban warehouses. A company in Bryan, Texas hopes to prove that. Instead of traditional greenhouses lit by fluorescent lamps, Caliber Biotherapeutics is building 50 foot towers lit by blue and red LED lights. Pinkhouses, for lack of a better word. [NPR]

  • Super Good News For Houston: For the third time in history, Houston will play Super Bowl host. The committee gave Houston the nod yesterday to anchor the 2017 matchup. They beat out Miami, the other city vying for Super Bowl LI. The 2014 Super Bowl will be played in the, perhaps chilly, Meadowlands of New York/New Jersey. The 2015 game belongs to Arizona and San Francisco won the 2016 bid. In the next few months, Houston’s Super Bowl Bid Committee will expand to include at least 10,000 volunteers. [KUHF]
Courtney Collins has been working as a broadcast journalist since graduating from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 2004. Before coming to KERA in 2011, Courtney worked as a reporter for NPR member station WAMU in Washington D.C. While there she covered daily news and reported for the station’s weekly news magazine, Metro Connection.