Five stories that have North Texas talking: Dallas is facing a threat of bankruptcy: Rick Perry met with Donald Trump; UT’s Charlie Strong hopes to stay with the Longhorns; and more.
Fifty three years ago today, Lee Harvey Oswald shot John F. Kennedy as the president traveled through Dealey Plaza in a motorcade. Items related to that fateful day have recently been put up for auction, The Associated Press reports. Dallas-based Heritage Auctions is selling a .38-caliber Colt Police Positive double-action revolver used by late Dallas police officer Gerald Hill in Oswald's arrest. Bidding opened at $4,000, double what was asked for the sports coat Hill wore during the arrest.
AP reports that Hill’s widow, Bobbye Hill wishes her husband’s gun and sports coat weren’t being auctioned, but rather donated to the Sixth Floor Museum, where she’s contributed several of her husband’s belongings in the past.
Goldin Auctions in New Jersey opened bidding for the handcuffs placed on Oswald at $50,000, although the auction house now predicts they're worth around $250,000, AP reports.
Other artifacts and pieces of evidence from the assassination have been sold in the past, including Kennedy's limousine license plates, Oswald's casket and the gun Jack Ruby used to kill Oswald.
- Dallas’pension fund for its police officers and firefighters is underfunded and seeking a billion-dollar bailout. That bailout is about equal to the city’s general fund budget, and it’s not even close to what the pension needs to be fully restored, The New York Times reports. Dallas’ more than 10,000 current and retired safety workers started voting on voluntary pension cuts this month to rescue the fund, but then five police officers and firefighters sued. Dallas is preparing to ask the state for help when the next Legislative session starts in January. Read more. [The New York Times]
- The Zapruder film is only 26 seconds long, but that’s all it took to capture a turning point in American history — the assassination of JFK. Abraham Zapruder filmed the tragedy from what’s now called the grassy knoll in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza. The film was used in the subsequent investigation and countless conspiracy theories surrounding JFK’s death. But it had an impact on Zapruder’s family, too. His granddaughter, Alexandra Zapruder writes about it in her new memoir. Read more from the Dallas Morning News. [NPR, DMN]
- Rick Perry met with Donald Trump in New York Monday. The Texas Tribune reports: “Trump aide Kellyanne Conaway told Fox News Monday that Perry is under consideration to lead the Departments of Defense and Energy. It is unclear how seriously Perry is under consideration for these posts.” Perry was one of Trump’s harshest critics, at one point calling him a “cancer on conservatism.” However, Perry campaigned for the now President-elect during the general election campaign. [The Texas Tribune]
Here's @TheNakedCowboy and @GovernorPerry earlier today at Trump Tower, per NC's Facebook page: pic.twitter.com/tBrh8hCS9j
— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) November 21, 2016
- Coach Charlie Strong says he wants to stay with the Longhorns.There have been talks of the University of Texas firing Strong. He’s 16-20 in his third year at Texas, including 5-6 this season, The Associated Press reports. Strong said administrators have told him they will review the season after the Longhorns play TCU on Friday. Athletic director Mike Perrin issued a statement calling reports of Strong's pending dismissal "rumors." If he was fired, however, it would be expensive. [The Associated Press, The Texas Tribune]
