Five stories that have North Texas talking: Wendy Davis talks about open carry; a Frisco student decides to wear a hajib; a Fort Worth restaurant serves police officers free lunch; and more.
Wendy Davis says she regrets expressing support for the open carry of handguns in her failed gubernatorial bid. Davis told the San Antonio Express-News the position "wasn't really in keeping" with her actual view and "strayed" from her core beliefs. She supported legislation last year to allow college students with concealed handgun licenses to keep weapons in their cars. The positions put her at odds with the Democratic Party. The statement comes with the Texas Legislature poised to consider open carry in the session that begins in January. It would allow people with concealed handgun licenses to wear a pistol on their hip while in public. [Associated Press]
- Meet a Frisco high school student who’s managing to practice her religious faith and be a regular American teenager. At Liberty High School in suburban Frisco, Irum Ali, an American-born teenager, has decided to wear a hijab. She wrestled with the decision for months. Irum’s the focus of the last installmentin Generation One, an eight-part KERA American Graduate series that launched in November. The series focuses on North Texas students who are immigrants or the children of immigrants.
- A Fort Worth restaurant is honoring police officers by serving them free lunch. Earlier this month, two New York City police officers were shot and killed while having lunch in their patrol car. The owners of the Fort Worth restaurant Reata had an idea – pay for lunch for local officers. That’s what’s happening through Dec. 31st. KERA’s Doualy Xaykaothao stopped by recently to talk with the restaurant owners – and the officers. [KERA News]
- A Central Texas meteorologist who was shot earlier this month outside his television station has been released from a hospital. Patrick Crawford was treated for three gunshot wounds: one to his abdomen and two others from shots that grazed him, including one to the head. He was treated at a hospital in Temple. Crawford, the morning weathercaster at KCEN, near Waco, was shot Dec. 17 in the station parking lot. Crawford has said he didn't know his attacker and that he didn't interact with the person before he was shot. The unknown suspect fled on foot. No arrests have been made and the motive remains under investigation. [Associated Press]
- Here’s a neat look at what could happen to a Texas movie set used by John Wayne. From The Associated Press: “Time and Mother Nature are threatening to dismantle the Alamo. Not the original, but the replica 18th-century Spanish mission and Old West movie set John Wayne built for his Oscar-nominated 1960 movie and that for decades was a tourist mecca and film production site. Alamo Village, a 400-acre plot of land about 120 miles west of San Antonio, was carved out of a large ranch in the late 1950s for Wayne's directorial debut. … Corpus Christi businessman David Jones, 74, envisions saving Alamo Village as a Texas version of Old Tucson, a thriving Old West theme park in southern Arizona. Jones, who describes himself as a lifelong friend of the former owners, says he's close to raising the $8 million he believes is necessary to buy the property and ready it for visitors.”
