Five stories that have North Texas talking: Charleston murders hit home for local AME church members; Confederate flags don't fly on Texas license plates; there's a new Alamo cat in town; and more.
Ethel Lee Lance, 70, was one of the nine victims fatally shot by suspect Dylann Roof on Wednesday night while in prayer at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Lance was a sexton at the church in Charleston and the mother of an AME chaplain from Dallas, according to reports from WFAAand The Dallas Morning News. Tenth District Bishop Vashti McKenzie, who represents more than 230 AME churches in Texas, disclosed this information during a prayer vigil with various Dallas AME members at noon Thursday. McKenzie did not tell reporters the name of the victim's daughter for privacy reasons. [WFAA and The Dallas Morning News]
Here's a list of vigils scheduled in Dallas this weekend, according to WFAA:
- 6:30 p.m. Friday at Saint Paul AME Church
- 7:30 p.m. Friday at Paul Quinn College
- 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Calvary Philadelphia Baptist Church
Video coverage from the midday vigil (The Dallas Morning News)
Messages on license plates – specifically Confederate flag emblems – are not covered under free speech. Content of license plates are considered state property, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. Therefore, Texas had the right to reject The Sons of Confederate Veterans’ application back in 2009 for a specialty plate bearing its logo, which featured the Confederate flag. The Texas Tribune reported: “The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles denied the application after a number of groups including the Texas NAACP called the proposed plates offensive." Associate Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said someone wanting a message in question displayed on his or her vehicle could use “larger letters on a bumper sticker right next to the plate." [Texas Tribune].
Texans have the most allergies and are most likely to post about it on social media. In a month-to-month study from May 2014 to May 2015, Sickweatherconcluded that Texas has the highest number of allergy-sufferers based on people talking about their seasonal plight online. Sickweatherprovides online reports and an iPhone app that scans social network activity for "indicators of illness" and takes that information to map "real-time data on more than 23 different symptoms and illnesses."
Here is the Top 10 list:
- Texas
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Kansas
- Massachusetts
- Kentucky
- Nevada
- Ohio
- West Virginia
- Tennessee
A 23-story office building will be planted on one of the Dallas Art District’s few and far between green spaces. The Dallas Morning News reported Thursday: “The Dallas Symphony Foundation is selling the high-profile corner of Woodall Rodgers Freeway and Pearl Street in the Dallas Arts District to developer Lincoln Property.” For the last two decades, the area has served as a park and the home to the large pendulum sculpture next to the Symphony. The property, across from Klyde Warren Park and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, sold for $7.4 million – a price that will help support the symphony’s financial future, president Scott Hancock said. [The Dallas Morning News]
Introducing Miss Isabella Francisca Veramendi de Valero – the new, official cat of the Alamo. The Associated Press reported Thursday: “Bella was found roaming the grounds of the Presidio la Bahia in Goliad. An employee transported the cat to the Alamo. Bella wears a tag that says ‘I Belong At The Alamo.’ She's been seen atop a cannon, playing near a computer keyboard and frolicking with workers.” Bella’s main responsibilities with The Texas General Land Office will be welcoming residents and hunting rodents. Mistress Clara Carmack, or C.C., who died last summer, preceded the calico. [The Associated Press]
