Dallas County GOP drops plan to hand count March primary ballots ... and more news

Dallas’ Landmark Commission is set to decide Monday whether a historic Oak Lawn church can keep its rainbow-painted front steps, a move made after Gov. Greg Abbott directed cities to remove rainbow crosswalks and other painted symbols from public streets. The church has urged neighbors and supporters to attend and speak at the 1 p.m. hearing at Dallas City Hall, saying the steps have become a marker of welcome and belonging. In other news, the CEO of Richardson-based Fossil Franco Fogliato knows what it takes to compete. The stock price recently hit its highest point since March of 2023 after sales declines narrowed and it got some good news on the debt front; with nearly 70 secondhand stores in the city, D-FW has become a thriving secondhand hub for big and small retailers; and the Dallas Cowboys season came to a close yesterday with an embarrassing 34-17 loss to the New York Giants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dallas saw a drop in emergency calls about celebratory gunfire this New Year’s Eve compared to the start of 2025. DPD reported Thursday that they received 759 calls related to celebratory gunfire and another 273 calls about fireworks In other news, Texas is poised to make historic investments in water supplies and infrastructure in the next few decades, but some of the funding won’t be immediate; a woman was fatally shot in Fort Worth on New Year’s Day after a confrontation with a security guard outside a business. Fort Worth police officers responded to a reported shooting Thursday around 5:40 p.m. in the 2600 block of South Riverside Drive; and Texas Tech's football season is over after a 23-0 loss to Oregon in the CFP. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tricolor is accused of double-pledging vehicles, meaning one vehicle would have two titles on it from two lenders, instead of the usual one. Prosecutors say this type of fraud deceived investors about the actual value of Tricolor’s inventory and its loans. In other news, several families in North Texas traded holiday celebrations for funeral planning in the wake of recent, high-profile domestic violence cases in Dallas, Kaufman and Tarrant counties; University Park’s city council will consider at its Jan. 6 meeting ordering a special election in May to dissolve its membership with DART; former Dallas Cowboy Trevon Diggs is signing with the Green Bay Packers, reuniting with Micah Parsons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SportsDay Insiders Kevin Sherrington, Evan Grant and Calvin Watkins analyze [00:13] the release of Trevon Diggs and whether it'd have been better to save a little more money by making him a post-June 1 cut. Calvin lays out his five big plans for the offseason (Hint: More Pickens; less Eberflus). [25:42] Evan asks if Nico Harrison was the worst GM in Dallas sports history and gets no challengers. Especially if the Mavs can't get enough back for Anthony Davis at the trade deadline. [34:00] And the guys make their CFP predictions, headed by the Red Raiders' remarkable season as the poster school for college athletics' new identity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Dallas County Republican Party abandoned plans Tuesday to hand-count tens of thousands of ballots on primary day, March 3, saying it could not recruit enough workers to carry out the manual tally. In other news, three weeks after immigration officers detained Maher Tarabishi, his son was rushed to the emergency room with life-threatening sepsis and pneumonia; an all-Republican state appeals court on Tuesday unanimously upheld a previous judicial order that put the brakes on Attorney General Ken Paxton’s efforts to rein in “rogue” prosecutors in Texas’ most urban areas; and former Dallas Cowboy greats Jason Witten and Darren Woodson were named among the 15 Modern Era finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

McKinney police charged the son of the city’s former city manager with capital murder Monday after finding 73-year old Frank Ragan and his wife, 72-year old Jackie Ragan dead with stab wounds in their living room just days after Christmas. In other news, Rep. Jasmine Crockett said Monday she’s the more experienced, proven progressive option for Democrats as she competes with state Rep. James Talarico for the party’s Senate nomination; Federal officials on Monday announced funding amounts for its new rural health program. Texas will receive more than $281 million, more than any other state; nd Razzoo’s, the Cajun restaurant chain that started in Dallas in 1991 and filed for bankruptcy in 2025, has been purchased by North Texas company M Crowd. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A sprawling lot full of trees and shrubs in southern Dallas is set to transform into housing in 2026, fueling aspirations for a new grocery store in southeast Oak Cliff. More than $23 million in city infrastructure funding is helping pave the way for over 500 new homes and retail space. In other news, at South Dallas’ Oakland Cemetery, life after death has a new meaning amid a field of resilient post oak trees, wildflowers and long-stem prairie grasses. Five years after a group of volunteers stepped in to save the cemetery from permanent closure, work has been underway to extend the lifespan of a site that’s home to scores of the city’s earliest residents and pioneers; Campisi’s on Lovers Lane has temporarily closed its doors after a fire on Saturday. Dallas Fire-Rescue responded to a 911 call early Saturday morning from a passerby about a fire at 5405 West Lovers Lane; nd the Texas Tech Red Raiders will arrive in Fort Lauderdale for their game against Oregon in style. the American Hat Company partnered with Texas Tech Athletics Saturday to gift each Red Raider participating in the Capital One Orange Bowl with a custom-fitted black felt cowboy hat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Five years ago, the body of 28-year-old Christopher Whiteley was found near a wooded creek bed in Hood County, about 55 miles outside of Fort Worth.Deputies theorized a cougar had killed him. Texas wildlife experts said that was impossible. So what really happened?From its earliest moments, an investigation by The Dallas Morning News found the examination into Whiteley’s death was riddled with false assumptions and errors that forensics and wildlife experts say left too many unanswered questions.Now, the fourth season of The Unforgotten podcast from Free Range Productions in association with The Dallas Morning News examines Whiteley’s story in a six-part series entitled “Kill Site.” The series is hosted by Free Range’s Wes Ferguson, a former Texas Monthly editor based near Austin. The podcast draws from a 2021 investigation by former News staff reporter Charles Scudder, who is a contributor on the show.We’re dropping a new episode each week here in your Dallas Morning News podcast feed.This is episode 3: “The showdown” — The dispute over Christopher Whiteley‘s cause of death turns hostile as medical examiners pivot to a different theory.This series contains mature subject matter and strong language, listener discretion is advised.Read The News’ 2021 report on Whiteley’s case, complete with maps, timelines and visuals: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/investigations/2021/09/23/authorities-say-a-hood-county-man-was-killed-by-a-cougar-texas-wildlife-experts-say-its-impossible/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Officials say the drones can reach volatile calls faster than patrol cars, stream live video and reduce risks for officers and civilians by showing what officers are walking into — or whether they need to go at all. Dallas’ police chief has said the city may take part in a “drone first responder” program, as it looks for ways to cut emergency response times. That promise of speed using drones is what worries civil liberties and privacy advocates, who say the technology could normalize routine aerial surveillance. In other news, as President Donald Trump’s administration has pushed forward with his mass deportation campaign, one of the consequences has been policy changes that affect individuals who have pending applications for victim-based immigration benefits; DFW Airport told The News last week that it expects nearly 5 million passengers to pass through between Dec. 18 and Jan. 6, officials said. That’s more than a 3% increase in traffic compared to last year, the airport said. Love Field expects more than 500,000 travelers between Dec. 18 and New Year’s Eve, a slight decrease from last year when the airport saw more than 560,000 travelers; and the Powerball jackpot has soared to $1.7 billion with the next drawing set for this evening. If someone wins Wednesday, it would be the fourth-largest prize in the game’s history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An 18-year-old member of the South Oak Cliff football team was arrested early Sunday after accidentally shooting a teammate. In other news, more than 3 million package thefts with a value in excess of $159 million were reported in North Texas just this year. Dallas-Fort Worth ranked sixth among the 10 worst major metro areas for package theft; a man died during a house fire in Dallas’ Singing Hills neighborhood Sunday. Firefighters responded around noon to reports of a fire at the one-story house in the 1200 block of Whispering Trail; and Anthony Davis had a dominant double-double of 35 points and 17 rebounds, but the Mavs lost 119-113 on Monday night. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices