News for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Top Stories: Straus Calls Out Confederate Plaque; Teachers Pay Cost Of Supplies

Wikimedia Commons
The Children of the Confederacy Creed plaque at the Texas Capitol building.

The top local stories this afternoon from KERA News:

Texas House Speaker Joe Straus wants a controversial Confederate plaque removed from the state Capitol in Austin. The plaque, called "Children of the Confederacy Creed,” rejects slavery as an underlying cause of the Civil War. It was installed in 1959.

Straus, a Republican, said today in a letter to state officials that the plaque is "blatantly inaccurate." 

Other stories:

  • The city of Dallas is closing the downtown shelter where about 200 Hurricane Harvey evacuees have been staying. The evacuees are moving to the Tommie M. Allen Recreation Center in Oak Cliff. At one point, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center hosted more than 2,500 evacuees. Fort Worth and Irving have closed their shelters for Harvey evacuees. 

  • Last year, journalist Katy Tur was tapped by NBC to cover Donald Trump's presidential bid. And quickly Tur was singled out at multiple rallies as a media member Trump loved to hate. Today on Think, she talked with Krys Boyd about what she learned about America from covering his campaign. 

  • For some parents, filling a shopping cart with school supplies is a chore. For others, it's an impossibility. As KERA's Courtney Collins reports, many teachers would rather spend their own money, than see kids in their class go without.

 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.