Texas Senate approves bill aimed at ending State Fair’s gun ban ... and more news

Hundreds of protesters gathered in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on Thursday to protest the Trump administration as part of May Day Strong, a series of volunteer-led nationwide demonstrations. As many as 1,000 protests were scheduled for May 1, a date historically known as May Day or International Workers’ Day. In other news, Dallas police Chief Daniel Comeaux fired two civilian employees Thursday who were accused of separate offenses. Billy Flores and Evelyn Keith, both 911 call analysts, were fired for “engaging in adverse conduct.” Also, American Airlines will invest $4 billion into DFW International Airport’s forthcoming Terminal F, doubling the size of the project and creating a “crown jewel” in the world’s third busiest airport. And  there will be a game seven in the first round Stanley Cup playoff series between the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche. The Stars had a 4-3 advantage at the start of the third period but the Avalanche scored four  consecutive goals in the final 20 minutes to win game 6 7-4. The series returns to American Airlines Center for Game 7 tomorrow night.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chef Andre Natera of the Chefs PSA podcast makes a special guest appearance on Eat Drink D-FW and discusses why food is feeling all the same right now, how restaurants can stand out in a Instagram-driven world and what makes great chefs, well, great. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the final installment of Season 2 of Beyond Talking Points, host Abby McCloskey speaks with Rick Perry, former Governor of Texas and U.S. Energy Secretary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SportsDay Insiders Kevin Sherrington, Evan Grant and David Moore convene on David’s last podcast as he enters semi-retirement. [8:15] Before hitting the door, David tells us what the Cowboys were thinking before their early-round picks, in particular, and how they went for value over need. [27:20] Evan gives us the low, low-down on the Rangers’ offense, including the awful chase numbers across the board and whether firing the hitting coaches or adding a bat is the answer. [48:30] Kevin points out the importance of the Stars’ breakout Game 5 win and what Jake Oettinger’s play portends going forward. And it’s Nelson Week at Craig Ranch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Texas Senate approved a bill Wednesday that takes aim at the State Fair of Texas’ gun ban. The policy was put in place last year after a gunman shot three fairgoers in 2023. Tthe bill’s author, state Sen. Bob Hall, R-Rockwall, said the move denied “citizens their right to self-defense.” The legislation, headed to the Texas House of Representatives, would prevent contractors from banning guns in government-owned public spaces, unless state law says otherwise. In other news, detainees at the Bluebonnet immigrant detention center in the small city of Anson, about 200 miles west of Dallas sent the outside world a message this week: S-O-S; in a surprising alliance, the Texas oil and gas lobby has joined forces with renewable energy developers to sink a proposal that would require all existing solar and wind generators to guarantee they can provide power when needed; nd the Dallas Stars are one win away from advancing out of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and ending the Colorado Avalanche’s season. The Stars won Game 5 in a convincing fashion to take a 3 games to 2 lead in the series that returns to Denver for Game 6 tonight. NHL teams that hold a 3-2 series lead win the series 79% of the time. In the last 30 years in Dallas, they’ve had even better results, winning 94.1% of the time with a 16-1 series record after holding the 3-2 advantage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A bill that would clarify when Texas physicians can legally perform an abortion to save a mother’s life unanimously passed the state Senate on Tuesday. Senate Bill 31, also known as the Life of the Mother Act, would allow doctors to intervene and provide abortion care to pregnant women who are experiencing medical emergencies. In other news, Texas health officials reported 17 new measles cases on Tuesday, bringing the total confirmed cases since late January to 663. The state’s public health department estimates that fewer than 10 of the confirmed cases — about 1% — are “actively infectious.”; one Monday last fall, only about half of Cleburne students showed up to class. The reason for such low attendance? Families were fearful after threats of violence against Cleburne ISD campuses had zoomed across Snapchat in the days before. Similar scares have become common, a trend that’s strained police resources, led to the arrests of young children and interrupted students’ focus in the classroom; and H-E-B is ready to open its first namesake store in North Texas. The company will officially launch on May 14 in Melissa at 6 a.m. The San Antonio grocer’s new store is at 1230 Central Expressway, near the intersection of U.S. Highway 75 and State Highway 121. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dallas-Fort Worth is among the most ozone-polluted metro areas in the U.S. That’s according to new data from the American Lung Association. The 26th annual State of the Air report ranked D-FW as No. 10 out of 228 metropolitan areas for worst high ozone days — a setback from previous rankings. In other news, a man is in jail and facing murder charges after Dallas police connected two separate shootings by tying bullet casings, a cellphone number and a vehicle to both scenes, records show. 30-year old Garrett Hudgens is facing murder charges in connection with fatal shootings on April 4 in West Oak Cliff and April 23 near Fair Park; a novel experiment underway in West Texas could help determine whether long-abandoned nuclear technology could be the future of Texas power. At Abilene Christian University, a research lab is working to create the nation’s first nuclear research reactor in more than 40 years; and the Dallas Stars needed a response, and it couldn’t have come in more convincing fashion. Scoring just nine seconds into Game 5 at American Airlines Center, the Stars showed up from the start and took down the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 on Monday to take a 3-2 series lead. The Stars will have the chance to end the series Thursday night in Game 6 at Colorado. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bishop T.D. Jakes, who founded The Potter’s House and has led the Dallas megachurch for almost 30 years, announced at a Sunday morning service that he will be handing leadership of the church over to his daughter and son-in-law. Their appointment will occur later this year. In other news, two young men are dead and a third was injured in a shooting when a fight broke out at an Arlington gas station Saturday night. At about 10:06 p.m., Arlington police officers responded to a reported shooting at a gas station in the 5600 block of South Cooper Street; a throng of people gathered in downtown Dallas Sunday afternoon to rally against the Trump administration’s policy changes that have affected labor, federal workers and immigrants’ rights. According to organizers, the rally held at Civic Garden was part of May Day celebrations across the country, an event also known as International Workers’ Day; and the NFL draft is an unpredictable force. A prime example came this weekend when a pair of area quarterbacks were selected far later than expected. Shedeur Sanders and Quinn Ewers went into the third day of the draft Saturday afternoon waiting to hear their names called. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The city of Dallas is suing 3M, DuPont and other chemical companies, alleging they contaminated some of the area’s drinking water. The lawsuit alleges 3M and other companies manufactured and sold PFAS, often called “forever chemicals.” PFAS are known to be toxic, extremely persistent in the environment and capable of causing significant health risks. In other news, nearly one year after UTD students set up an encampment on campus to protest the war in Gaza, 14 were indicted on misdemeanor charges. Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said in a Thursday news release that they were indicted on charges of obstructing a passageway, which is a Class B misdemeanor; for the third time in four years, the Dallas Cowboys used their first-round pick on an offensive lineman. Alabama’s Tyler Booker was the choice at No. 12 and will be asked to follow in the footsteps of Zack Martin at right guard, the future Hall of Famer who announced his retirement in the offseason. And each year, more than eight hundred million tons of greenhouse gases are emitted across the state of Texas, a Dallas Morning News investigation found. The Lone Star State ranks top in the nation for carbon dioxide emissions. Experts say those emissions have had a significant impact on climate change. And those changes are impacting everything from temperatures –  the average annual temperature of Dallas has risen by as much as three degrees Fahrenheit the past century – to weather patterns that create drought and wildfires.  Efforts are underway to curb emissions and find new sources of energy that place less strain on the environment, but supply chain limits, safety risks and partisan divisions among lawmakers have presented challenges. Read the full investigation – A Changing Climate – at dallasnews.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Beyond Talking Points, host Abby McCloskey talks with Pia Orrenius, a labor economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, about the effects of migration and deportations on the American economy, workforce and culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices