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Judge Helped Install Fake Signs To Deter TCU Students From Parking In His Neighborhood

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Flickr Creative Commons
Eight fake "no parking" signs were put up by residents of a Fort Worth neighborhood on along a street without any restrictions.

Five stories that have North Texas talking: A longtime criminal appeals judge put up fake “no parking” signs in a TCU-area neighborhood; AG Ken Paxton says UT professors’ action against campus carry would be punishable; long live the horny toads; and more.

Larry Meyers, a longtime judge with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, did something illegal, himself. Meyers and a group of area residents installed eight official-looking signs that read “No parking anytime,” “Tow-away zone” and “Resident parking only” on West Devitt Street, near the south end of Texas Christian University, Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

A resident of the Bluebonnet Hills neighborhood, Meyers was fed up with TCU students parking on the street and taking up room for homeowners and their cars. He told the Star-Telegram: “They just park their cars there 24 hours a day. They leave trash. It creates gigantic congestion.”

The unauthorized signs, which cost the residents more than $1,000, were installed several weeks ago, but then some neighbors were worried and wanted to negotiate with the city. So, the signs were removed, leaving just the bare metal poles, the Star-Telegram reported. But then, before a city-approved decision was made, the signs were up this week as college kids started returning to campus.

City officials are working with Meyers to address the problem, city spokeswoman Cindy Vasquez told the Star-Telegram, and haven’t mentioned issuing a misdemeanor or $500 fine for the violation of a city ordinance. [Fort Worth Star-Telegram]

  • With the hype from their big reveals fading, two Texas valedictorians focus on their first semester of college. Mayte Lara Ibarra and Larissa Martinez both outed themselves as undocumented immigrants during graduation this year — Ibarra from Crockett High School in Austin in a tweet and Martinez from McKinney Boyd in North Texas in her valedictorian speech. Now, as summer has separated them from the social media frenzy, the soon-to-be college students talked with NPR about their futures as undocumented immigrants in higher education. Ibarra heads to the University of Texas at Austin and Martinez to Yale — quite a feat, considering only about half of the 65,000 undocumented high school graduates go to college. [NPR]    

  • The three UT Austin professors fighting campus carry were told they’d be punished for banning guns in their classroom. Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote in a legal brief filed Monday that President Gregory Fenves has not made a rule excluding guns from class, and that the faculty knows campus carry is legal. "As a result, any individual professor who attempts to establish such prohibition is subject to discipline." professors Mia Carter, Jennifer Glass and Lisa Moore, who sued the university and state in federal court last month to temporarily block the implementation of campus carry, The Dallas Morning News reported. Judge Lee Yeakel could decide by the end of the week whether to grant the request or not. [The Dallas Morning News]

  • Did you hear about the baby boom in Hill Country? Twenty-five tiny horned lizards were born recently in a procreation effort from Texas Parks & Wildlife to boost the population of the Texas native and TCU mascot. But it's not a sure thing that the program will succeed. The lizards have some disadvantages. "It's kind of tough when you're a short, fat little lizard who doesn't run real fast and your biggest defense mechanism is just sit still," Mason Mountain Wildlife Management Area's Jim Gallagher told Texas Public Radio. At least, they’re cute — see for yourself. [Texas Public Radio]

  • UNT Dallas law school program is in jeopardy of not receiving accreditation from the American Bar Association. “The association is concerned in part by the school enrolling students with low LSAT scores, which could  place those students at risk of not passing the state bar exam,” KERA’s Stella Chávez reported. The law school, which opened in 2014, caters to non-traditional students — older students who have had other jobs. The recommendation is not final. In October, the school will present to a bar association council its case for why it should be accredited. [KERA News]