Five stories that have North Texas talking: UNT produces a rap video; a Prince Fielder-Ian Kinsler trade; Sulphur Springs is home to one of America’s best bathrooms, and more.
UNT is one mean green rappin' machine. The University of North Texas has produced a rap video that’s been watched more than 30,000 times on YouTube. In UNT Rap Anthem, UNT students trash other North Texas schools: “Take a lesson from this mean green master. These other Texas schools are like a natural disaster.” They take down SMU: “Kids down in Dallas reppin’ my little pony, but in reality their degrees are just bologna.” And TCU: “Now TCU, your football team has taken a toll. It looks like it’ll be awhile ‘til another Rose Bowl.” The students rap about the glories of UNT and everything that’s mean green: “Big brains great minds, we got a rockin’ jazz department and deez beats are sublime.” And they brag about who’s studied up in Denton: “Our school has graduated some of the most ill ranging from Bowling for Soup to Dr. Phil. Meat Loaf sang Paradise by the Dashboard Light. Don Henley wrote Hotel Cali in Bruce one night.” The Denton Record-Chronicle reports that a UNT marketing official came up with the idea for a video so students could share their UNT pride. Ultimately, it’s a teaching tool: Students wrote the rap and shot and edited the video. They also did the choreography. And they’re sharing the video on social media. Here’s the video:
- When it comes to the business of doing No. 1 and No. 2, Sulphur Springs is No. 3. That’s according to Cintas’ annual America’s Best Bathrooms contest – aka the “Bowl Games.” In Sulphur Springs, the glass bathrooms on the square were ranked as the third best bathroom in the country. Cintas, a restroom supplies company, presented 10 venues to the voters, who went online to choose a winner. Sulphur Springs, which is about 80 minutes northeast of Dallas in Hopkins County, wanted to help revitalize downtown by providing public restrooms. They look like large glass boxes. You could call them glass potties. The public restrooms are considered public art. And they've become a tourist attraction. Sulphur Springs brags that they have the “World Famous Glass Bathrooms.” KERA has more details.
- Hello Prince Fielder, goodbye Ian Kinsler. The Detroit Tigers traded first baseman Prince Fielder to the Texas Rangers for second baseman Ian Kinsler. ESPN reports that Detroit will pay $92 million in the deal -- $62 million to Kinsler and $30 million to Texas for Fielder. “It's the first headline-grabbing move of baseball's offseason, and it involves two of the American League's top teams,” ESPN reported. “With stars like Fielder, Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and Anibal Sanchez in the fold, Detroit's payroll had become one of the game's biggest, and although Fielder hit 55 home runs over the last two years for the Tigers, his numbers dipped this season and he struggled in the playoffs when Detroit lost to Boston in the AL championship series.”
- Veteran CBS newsman Bob Schieffer reflects on covering the JFK assassination for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. After JFK was shot, Schieffer was in the Star-Telegram newsroom when the phone rang. It was total bedlam, he said. “Every phone was ringing, and I picked up one phone only to hear a woman say, ‘Is there anyone there who can give me a ride to Dallas?’ he wrote in a recent piece for the newspaper. “In truth, I almost hung up, but I said, ‘Lady, we don’t run a taxi here, and besides, the president’s been shot,’ to which she replied, ‘Yes. I heard on the radio; I think my son is the one they’ve arrested.’” Schieffer ended up interviewing Lee Harvey Oswald’s mother. “Those of us who were there will never really forget that weekend, and I have thought about it many times over the years. What is often lost in the telling of the story is how stunned we were when it happened. There have been many violent events since then, but no one who was alive that day had experienced what unfolded that weekend.” Dan Rather, the retired CBS newsman, talks with KERA about his memories of covering the assassination -- that interview is scheduled to air Thursday afternoon.
- See the art that the Kennedys saw in their Fort Worth hotel room. The Amon Carter Museum is showing Hotel Texas: An Art Exhibition for the President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy. Local art collectors, including Carter’s daughter, Ruth, organized a world-class art exhibition for the president and Jackie Kennedy. They included works by Monet, van Gogh, Thomas Eakins, Henry Moore and Picasso. Before heading to Dallas, the Kennedys called Ruth Carter to express their appreciation. KERA’s Stephen Becker reported on the exhibit earlier this year when it appeared at the Dallas Museum of Art.
