Five stories that have North Texas talking: The Dallas Ebola patient has died; his death concerns residents in Vickery Meadow; who was Thomas Eric Duncan?; and more.
First lady Michelle Obama has recorded a radio ad for Texas Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Wendy Davis. The Fort Worth state senator's campaign said Wednesday that the 60-spot begins running this week "in multiple media markets." In it, Obama praises Davis' education plan, saying "you have a chance to make a real difference for our children by voting for Wendy Davis." She also mentions Davis "fighting to expand Medicaid," a reference to President Barack Obama's health care law. Outgoing Gov. Rick Perry and the GOP-controlled Texas Legislature has refused to increase Medicaid access statewide under the law. Davis' Republican opponent, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, is favored in next month's election. The president is largely unpopular in Texas. Davis had often tried to distance herself from the White House, until now. Davis and Abbott debated at the KERA studios last week -- watch it here.[The Associated Press]
- Thomas Eric Duncan, the Dallas Ebola patient, died Wednesday morning. Catch up on yesterday’s developments here from KERA News. His death concerns and saddens many in Vickery Meadow, the Northeast Dallas neighborhood where Duncan had been visiting before he got sick. Meanwhile, on Wednesday afternoon, emergency responders in Frisco said a patient "exhibiting signs and symptoms" of Ebola was sent via ambulance to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The patient is a Dallas County sheriff’s deputy who was with Duncan’s relatives and inside the apartment Duncan had stayed in earlier as part of the local Ebola investigation. But state health officials say there is no indication the person had any direct contact with Thomas Eric Duncan. Learn more here. [KERA/Associated Press]
- Who was Thomas Eric Duncan? He was a man who was loved and in love. KERA’s Lauren Silverman has this profile. Duncan came from Liberia to Dallas last month and had plans to marry his fiancée, Louise Troh, said her pastor, George Mason. “This has been in the works for several months that this was not an immediate decisions of his to come to the States,” Mason told KERA. “He had been waiting for a visa and it came through of course he became symptomatic before we could make a plan for the wedding.” Duncan and Troh were together for a week before he became sick and was transported via ambulance to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.
- Police in Frisco say a woman suspected in the January death of her 10-year-old son appears to have killed her husband before committing suicide last month at their home. Frisco police on Wednesday released the findings of autopsy reports showing Pallavi Dhawan died from drowning and toxic levels of a drug commonly found in cold and other medications. The autopsy determined that her husband, Sumeet Dhawan, died of blunt force injuries to his head and toxic drug levels. His death is ruled a homicide. Frisco police spokesman Benito Valdez says no other suspects are being considered. The couple's bodies were found Sept. 3. Authorities continue to analyze a note found at the scene. Pallavi Dhawan at the time was being investigated in the death of her son, Arnav. [The Associated Press]
- KERA’s State of the Arts series continues tonight. It’s at 7 p.m. at the Dallas Museum of Arts’ Horchow Auditorium. Tickets are $5. Learn more here. Tonight’s focus is conservation. Host Jeff Whittington will talk with Mark Leonard, chief conservator of the Dallas Museum of Art, and Jodie Utter, conservator of works on paper for the Amon Carter. Learn more about Leonard in this story from Art&Seek’s Jerome Weeks.
