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Top Stories: Dallas Mayor Heads To China And South Korea

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The top local stories this morning from KERA News:

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings is on a trade mission to China and South Korea this week.

He will join local business leaders, officials from DFW Airport, local chambers of commerce and visitors bureaus to meet with their counterparts in Shanghai and Seoul.

Total bilateral trade with China accounts for more than 10 percent of Texas' trade with foreign countries. Nineteen Korean-owned companies also operate significant facilities in the Dallas and Fort Worth region.

Other stories this morning:

  • Texas could lose 2,000 teachers who are recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program if it is allowed to expire without legislative action. 

  • Irving-based Luminant Energy will close three coal-fired power plants early next year — including one near Corsicana. The closures mean layoffs for about 650 people — and it could bump coal out of second place in its share of the state’s power generation capacity.

  • UT Southwestern Medical Center’s taking part in clinical trials into prevention and treatment of kidney stones. The rate of kidney stone disease has nearly doubled over the last 15 years.

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

Former KERA staffer Krystina Martinez was an assistant producer. She produced local content for Morning Edition and KERANews.org. She also produced The Friday Conversation, a weekly series of conversations with North Texas newsmakers. Krystina was also the backup newscaster for the Texas Standard.