The top local stories this evening from KERA News:
Condolences are pouring in from political leaders in Texas and around the world for former First Lady Barbara Bush. She died yesterday in Houston at the age of 92.
Among those paying tribute: her son, former President George W. Bush. He spoke at a leadership forum Wednesday at the Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, where he said he’s at peace with his mother’s death.
“And the reason why is my mother was at peace for what took place,” he said. “She believes in an afterlife and was joyously looking forward to that afterlife.”
The former president also recalled his last moments in the hospital with his mother, who he said was her feisty self to the very end.
Funeral services for Barbara Bush are planned for Saturday in Houston.
Other stories this evening:
- Back in the late 80's and early 90's, when Barbara Bush was First Lady, AIDS was considered a death sentence, and it carried the stigma as a disease spread by drug users and gay men. Many Americans were afraid that just touching someone with AIDS could be deadly. But soon after her husband's presidential inauguration, Barbara Bush visited an AIDS hospice, where she held and cuddled babies with the disease for the world to see. Jeffrey Engel is the director of the Center for Presidential History at SMU. He talked with David Brown, host of Texas Standard.
- Federal investigators are looking into what caused engine failure Tuesday on a Southwest plane bound for Dallas. One passenger died, the first in-flight fatality for the airline. A passenger who survived the emergency landing says the experience doesn't even feel real yet. He spoke to KERA's Courtney Collins.
- People who only know Texas from its elected officials might think the state is extremely conservative. But the truth is the state is filled with progressive cities that are pretty blue. Krys Boyd talked with New Yorker staff writer Lawrence Wright about why this diversity isn't always reflected at the polls.
You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:23 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.
