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Top Stories: Home Depot Employee Released From Hospital After Shooting

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The top local stories this evening from KERA News: 

A Home Depot worker who was shot while confronting a shoplifting suspect is out of the hospital nearly two weeks after gunfire that left one Dallas police officer dead and another critically hurt. Scott Painter, an employee at a store in North Dallas, was discharged Monday.

All three victims were shot April 24. Home Depot spokesman Stephen Holmes on Tuesday confirmed Painter left the hospital but declined to release further medical details. Holmes expressed gratitude from the Atlanta-based company, for support from the community and Home Depot associates since the shootings.  

Dallas police Officer Rogelio Santander died April 25. A police spokesman says Officer Crystal Almeida remains hospitalized but is improving.

Other stories this evening:

  • Prosecutors have dismissed another 42 cases relating to the 2015 shooting in Waco involving rival biker gangs that left nine dead and 20 others injured. McLennan County prosecutors said Tuesday they're dismissing the cases while focusing on "more culpable" defendants.

  • Three coal-fired power plants in Texas were recently shut down. Still, as the state braces for a hotter-than-usual summer, officials don’t sound worried about keeping the lights on and the air-conditioning humming. Houston Public Media’s Travis Bubenik reports. 

  • On Tuesdays, KERA's One Crisis Away project looks at life on the financial edge. Today, the cost of higher education, and why some North Texans are taking a less expensive path to their diplomas. As Courtney Collins reports, one Arlington family decided to study at the community college level instead and this weekend, they'll finish, together.

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.