The top local stories this morning from KERA News: In Dallas County, being accused of marijuana possession could land you a night in jail. That'll change Friday when the county begins its new cite-and-release program.
Under cite-and-release, officers can issue a court summons to someone caught with less than 4 ounces of marijuana. The idea is to free up officers to focus on violent crimes.
The program doesn't decriminalize marijuana. People with outstanding warrants or who violate probation will still be arrested and if an accused person is issued a citation, he or she still has to show up in court and may face jail time.
So far, Dallas is the only city in the county to participate in cite-and-release. Houston, San Antonio and Austin have similar programs.
Other stories this morning:
- The former special education director with the Texas Education Agency is still deciding whether to fight her termination from the job. Laurie Kash believes she was fired because she uncovered an illegal contract, but she also faced a lawsuit from her former employer.
- An estimated 660,000 Texans aren’t aware they have diabetes, but far more don’t know just how at risk they are for the disease.
- Though the month is not yet over, North Texas is logging one of its warmest Novembers on record. According to the Dallas Morning News, we've had 17 days of above normal temperatures.
You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.
