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Top Stories: Appeal Hearing Begins For Suspended Fort Worth Police Officer In Viral Video

LEE MERRITT / FACEBOOK

The top local stories this evening from KERA News:

The Fort Worth Police Chief defended his decision to suspend a white police officer who was seen in a viral video wrestling a black mother and her teenage daughter to the ground. Chief Joel Fitzgerald says the officer was disrespectful and used excessive force during the December incident.


 
Other stories this evening:

  • On Monday, Governor Abbott cut nearly $120 million from the two-year $217 billion budget plan. While that's a small percentage of the overall budget, many of the cuts focused on the environment. 

  • KERA has spent the last few months exploring the housing crunch in West Dallas, a neighborhood in the early stages of gentrification. As pricey restaurants and apartments go in, low-income residents -- almost all of them Latino or black -- are being edged out. The series is called "One Crisis Away: No Place To Go" and today, Courtney Collins looks at the role race plays.  

 You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.

Gus Contreras is a digital producer and reporter at KERA News. Gus produces the local All Things Considered segment and reports on a variety of topics from, sports to immigration. He was an intern and production assistant for All Things Considered in Washington D.C.