Five stories that have North Texas talking: Dallas gets the Vanity Fair treatment; the Dallas Arboretum sets an attendance record; the Dallas Cowboys have a big game Sunday; and more.
There’s a big Dallas Cowboys playoff game Sunday. They’re on the road, playing the Packers in the Frozen Tundra (aka Lambeau Field in Green Bay). Game time is 12:05 p.m. Sunday; you can watch on KDFW-TV (Channel 4). The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports: The game “is being billed as Ice Bowl II — a rematch of the Dec. 31, 1967, NFL Championship Game, which the Cowboys lost in treacherous subzero conditions.” The Dallas Morning News relives the game, too. For Sunday’s game, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt have made a friendly wager. If Dallas wins, City Hall will get a “basket full of Wisconsin favorites.” If Green Bay wins, Rawlings will send Pecan Lodge barbecue. Fox Sports offers three things the ‘Boys can do to beat the Packers. ESPN reports that Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will be ready to play on Sunday, even though he reinjured his left calf Dec. 28. Green Bay should reach a high of 23 degrees Sunday – practically balmy from today’s expected high of 3 degrees. The Cowboys say below-freezing temperatures won’t keep fans away.
- Dallas’ Ebola experience is the focus of an upcoming spread in Vanity Fair. And many of the county, city, state and health officials who were in the news last fall talk with the magazine about their experiences. “When Ebola reached America, arriving in Dallas on September 20, the city had no real plan to handle the outbreak,” the magazine reports in its February issue. “Nor, it appeared, did the federal government. As epidemiologist Wendy Chung, county judge Clay Jenkins, and other local officials quickly realized, they were largely on their own.”
- Operators of a northeast Ohio bridal shop linked to a Dallas Ebola survivor say the store is closing because it lost significant business and has been stigmatized. Dallas nurse Amber Vinson was diagnosed with Ebola days after visiting Coming Attractions Bridal & Formal store in Akron in October. The store temporarily closed and cleaned before reopening in November, but business hasn't bounced back. Owner Anna Younker says her shop has become known as the Ebola store, the Akron Beacon Journal reports. The store has lost at least $100,000. [Associated Press]
- The controversial Marvin Nichols reservoir will stay in the Texas water plan. The Texas Tribune reports: “It was an argument the state's top water planning officials had long avoided, over a huge lake that probably won't exist for decades — if ever. But on Thursday morning, the Texas Water Development Board's three members unanimously voted for the 72,000-acre Marvin Nichols reservoir — which the thirsty Dallas Fort-Worth region hopes to build in Northeast Texas — to stay in the State Water Plan. D-FW planners say the lake will shore up badly needed water supplies for their growing region in the coming decades. But the vote dismayed opponents from Red River, Titus, and Franklin counties, some of whose land would have to be flooded to make way for the reservoir.” [Texas Tribune]
- The Dallas Arboretum set an attendance record in 2014. The total attendance was 978,468 – that’s 34 percent greater than 2013’s total. Dallas Arboretum Board Chairman Bill Graue says there are many reasons for the strong attendance: “It was the first full year of the extraordinary Rory Meyers Children's Adventure Garden; the 30th anniversary of Dallas Blooms in the spring; and the debut of The 12 Days of Christmas, a blockbuster holiday exhibit that attracted locals and out-of-town visitors,” he said in a statement. KERA’s Courtney Collins has more.
