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Top Stories: South Texans Head North To Avoid Hurricane Harvey; The DMA's Mexican Influence

Courtney Collins
/
KERA News
Marilyn Bird and her dog Molly traveled north from Mont Belvieu near Baytown to avoid Hurricane Harvey.

The top local stories this evening from KERA News:

Hurricane Harvey has grown into a Category 3 storm and is expected to slam into the Texas Gulf Coast late Friday or early Saturday, dumping torrential rains and unleashing triple-digit winds. Governor Greg Abbott warns Harvey will be a major disaster, and he's asked President Donald Trump for a federal disaster declaration. 

As Hurricane Harvey nears the coast, folks are streaming north to wait out the storm and that means big business for hotels and truck stops in Dallas, Fort Worth. KERA's Courtney Collins navigated the sea of Houston evacuees.

Other stories this evening:

  • Colleges across the country have been plagued with instances of on-campus sexual assault. In Waco, Baylor University has been at the forefront of the controversy after a number of rapes -- some at the hands of football players -- were uncovered. ESPN reporters Paula Lavigne and Mark Schlabach investigated the sexual assaults. Today on Think, they talked with Krys Boyd about how the culture at Baylor contributed to the problem. 

  • The Dallas Museum of Art is waiting to hear whether this summer’s Frida Kahlo look-alike contest officially set a Guinness World Record. There’s no disputing the crowd: more than 5,000 Frida wanna-bees showed up. The contest was the brainchild of two so-called “DREAMers." In our weekly State of the Arts conversation, KERA’s Vice President of Arts, Anne Bothwell, finds out how immigration activism led them to art.

 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.