News for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Farmers Branch City Council Rejects Planned Gun Range Near Private School

Westwood School
/
Facebook
Westwood School parents and employees showed up at Farmers Branch City Hall Tuesday night. So many were there that some had to sit in an overflow room.

Five stories that have North Texas talking: Farmers Branch City Council says ‘no’ to a gun range; police body cameras arrive in Dallas; a year since the disappearance of Christina Morris; and more.

The Farmers Branch City Council voted Tuesday night to reject a proposed gun range that would have been near a private school. The council voted 3-2 against Texas Legends’ plans. WFAA-TV reports: “The theme became evident very quickly: Parents fighting the proposed range located near a school said it's about ‘perception and proximity.’ A group called Texas Legends presented plans to install a ‘state of the art’ gun range in the city off of Proton Road. The Westwood School is on that same street, about 350 feet away. …Texas Legends wanted to retrofit an old post office building. Plans filed with the city called for two ranges measuring from 25 to 15 yards, classrooms, offices and ‘a small retail component.’” The Dallas Morning News reports: “The head of the school, Heather Lourcey, said that though Westwood supports the right to own firearms, guns shouldn’t be allowed to disrupt a learning environment.” [WFAA-TV/The Dallas Morning News]

  • Garland's school superintendent is apologizing for remarks he made about Muslims at the district's convocation last month. Bob Morrison said the school board president who came to the event in an Arab headdress was lucky "bad things didn't happen" to him in the parking lot. The event was at the same place where police killed two gunmen who tried to attack a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in May. WFAA-TV reports: “School board president Larry Glick had just returned from Africa, and wore a costume on stage with a long fake beard, binoculars, safari hat, and a traditional Arab headdress. When Superintendent Bob Morrison got the microphone, he commented on Glick's cultural attire. ‘With the Garland PD here, he's lucky dressed like that [that] bad things didn't happen to him out in the parking lot, is all I can tell him,’ Dr. Morrison said.” Khalid Hamideh with the Islamic Association of North Texas says Morrison should resign. Morrison told WFAA his comments “were not intended to offend anyone and I genuinely apologize if they did.” [Associated Press/WFAA-TV]

  • Body cameras have arrived in Dallas. KERA’s Kat Chow reports:“The Dallas Police Department rolled out its first 66 body cameras Tuesday. They’re part of a program that will eventually equip 1,000 officers with cameras. This follows months of nation-wide controversy after Michael Brown, Sandra Bland and others died during encounters with officers. Groups including the Black Lives Matter movement have called for police reform, including the use of body cameras. Dallas Deputy Police Chief Andrew Acord says the department has been planning this initiative for two years. The Dallas City Council agreed to spend $3.7 million on it in May.” [KERA]

  • Sunday marked a year since Christina Morris went missing from The Shops at Legacy in Plano. The Dallas Morning News reports: “The 23-year-old Fort Worth woman was spotted on a surveillance video in the early morning hours as she walked with an acquaintance to her car. She never made it. Police found her silver Toyota Celica parked in the same space days later. No signs of a struggle. No signs of Christina either. For family and friends, the last year has been an all-consuming search for answers. They have banded together, plastering her photo on social media, posters and billboards. They’ve sold T-shirts, tote bags and other trinkets bearing the same message: #FindChristina. No new clues have emerged.” [The Dallas Morning News]

  • Paul Quinn College is featured in a public radio documentary. The Living Legacy: Black Colleges in the 21st Century features the Dallas college and how its president, Michael Sorrell, turned the place around. From the documentary’s website: “When President Sorrell showed up, he recast Paul Quinn as a hub of urban entrepreneurship. He told his students that they were his partners in fundraising, as responsible for the success of the school as he is. Students are taught to introduce themselves with the ‘Paul Quinn greeting:’ name, major, hometown. They take a mandatory class called Introduction to Quinnite Servant Leadership where they learn the school’s guiding principles. A campus that potential donors saw as an awful investment eight years ago is starting to look like smart money.” Learn more here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Eric Aasen is KERA’s managing editor. He helps lead the station's news department, including radio and digital reporters, producers and newscasters. He also oversees keranews.org, the station’s news website, and manages the station's digital news projects. He reports and writes stories for the website and contributes pieces to KERA radio. He's discussed breaking news live on various public radio programs, including The Takeaway, Here & Now and Texas Standard, as well as radio and TV programs in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.