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Taya Kyle Writes Heartfelt, Heartbreaking Anniversary Letter To Chris Kyle

Facebook/HonorChrisKyle
Taya Kyle with Chris Kyle.

Five stories that have North Texas talking: Taya Kyle honors her late husband Chris; a last-second loss for SMU in the NCAA tournament; it’s time for music to shine at SXSW; and more.

Taya Kyle, the widow of Chris Kyle, wrote a touching love letter to her late husband. She posted it on Facebook on Monday in honor of their 13th wedding anniversary. Kyle, the former U.S. Navy SEAL, was author of “American Sniper,” a memoir. He and a friend, Chad Littlefield, were killed at a gun range near Chalk Mountain in 2013. Last month, Eddie Ray Routh was convicted. Here’s part of what Taya Kyle wrote: “Our wedding anniversary. I miss you and I love you. I feel you in my heart and soul so strongly. I am more blessed to have been your wife than anything else in my life. … Today, I have a choice. I can bury myself under the covers and acknowledge the pain of missing you and mourn the future anniversaries without you. Or, I can celebrate never having a day without you in my heart because you loved me enough to leave me a lifetime of memories and beauty. I am somewhere in between today. … I loved you yesterday, I love you now, and I will love you all the days of my life.”

  • SMU’s basketball team lost a very close game in the NCAA tourney Thursday. SMU lost to UCLA by just one point. KERA’s Courtney Collins reports: “You can call this the state of one-round wonders. Five Lone Star teams took a Texas two-step right out of the Big Dance. Texas, Baylor and Texas Southern all lost. By late afternoon, SMU had also fallen. That defeat was especially heartbreaking because this was the Mustangs’ first tournament game in 22 years. They lost to UCLA by just one point thanks to a controversial goal-tending call in the final seconds. The final score: 60-59.” The fifth Texas team, Stephen F. Austin, played Thursday night, losing to Utah, 57-50.

  • The Texas Senate has given final approval to a proposal allowing people with proper licenses to carry concealed handguns on college campuses. Thursday's 20-11 party line vote came one day after senators spent hours debating and preliminarily passing the bill. It now heads to the GOP-controlled House. Republican Sen. Brian Birdwell's plan mandates allowing concealed carry at public universities. Private schools could still ban guns. At least 20 states allow some form of so-called "campus carry." Supporters say the proposal will help protect students. Opponents, including most student groups and key leaders of Texas' top universities, say the bill would make campuses less safe. A separate bill that cleared the Senate earlier in the week lets Texans with gun licenses openly carry firearms in most places except for college campuses. [Associated Press]

  • Meet a North Texas single mom who lives on $10 an hour. Tricia Oliver lives in Jubilee Park in Dallas. She used to work two jobs, but the 60-hour workweeks wore her down. We feature her in our last installment of the KERA series One Crisis Away: Inside a Neighborhood. We’ve been focusing on the high cost of living poor in Jubilee Park, a part of Dallas. Many residents in Jubilee Park know what it feels like to watch a paycheck vanish in a haze of bills, rent and childcare. Visit the series here. There are videos, maps and other stories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20YW07z9dFM

Eric Aasen is KERA’s managing editor. He helps lead the station's news department, including radio and digital reporters, producers and newscasters. He also oversees keranews.org, the station’s news website, and manages the station's digital news projects. He reports and writes stories for the website and contributes pieces to KERA radio. He's discussed breaking news live on various public radio programs, including The Takeaway, Here & Now and Texas Standard, as well as radio and TV programs in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.