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Remembering The Most Lethal U.S. Sniper And His Conflicted Career

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Five stories that have North Texas talking: What we learned from fallen Navy Seal Chris Kyle, Boy Scouts may talk about lifting a ban on gays, what you can do to help battle mental illness in North Texas and more.

There was a time when Chris Kyle found it difficult to imagine shooting another human being. Still, he became the most lethal sniper in U.S. history when he killed more than 150 people in Iraq.  The Navy Seal had to “dehumanize” his job as a sniper to get it done, he told Think host Krys Boyd in an interview last winter about his book, American Sniper.

Kyle was shot to death on Saturday, and a fellow veteran has been arrested. Eddie Ray Routh, 25, of Lancaster, was suffering from PTSD and went to a shooting range with Kyle and another man for a therapeutic visit of sorts, Sheriff Tommy Bryant of Erath County told the New York Times.

  • It could be crunch time for the Boy Scouts. Several groups both for and against the organization's ban on gay troop leaders and members plan to rally outside Scout HQ in Irving today at 11 a.m. The Scouts' national executive board is meeting today, and the gay ban may be discussed. [NBCDFW]

  • Tomorrow, KERA and The Dallas Morning News hope to help North Texas face the problems of mental illness head-on as a co-hosts of Erasing The Stigma: Mental Health and the Search For Solutions at City Performance Hall, 7 p.m. The talk will feature leaders including Matt Roberts, president of Mental Health America, Dallas, and State Rep Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, who will share his own experience with bipolar disorder. The event is free; unfortunately, the hall is at capacity so RSVPs are no longer being taken. You can submit questions for the panelists via Twitter: Use the hashtag #erasingthestigma.

  • An ongoing sex abuse scandal at Parkland Hospital is more serious than authorities thought, according to an investigative report by the Dallas Morning News. Though suspects have been fired in the 25 cases filed, the hospital’s police force has made no arrests. The paper found unusual loopholes in rape exam rules, inconsistent diagnostic statements and employees covering for each other.

  • One Texas lawmaker thinks guns made in Texas shouldn’t have to follow federal manufacturing regulations, as long as the weapons are made and sold in the state. State Rep. Jodie Laubenberg (R-Murphy) has filed a bill to exempt home-grown guns.  [Unfair Park]