Local News - WFAA Dallas-Fort Worth

To submit items for Asian Culture and Community, e-mail metro@dallasnews.com. Dr. Eboo Patel , founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core, touted the virtues of pluralism at a recent luncheon held by the Aga Khan Foundation USA .

While athletes fight for the gold in China, a battle for another metal has united Olympic fans around the world: the pursuit of the pin. Some collectors are flexing their trading muscles in Beijing. Other pinatics satisfy their obsession from their computers in North Texas.

For many young athletes, their parents and coaches, the Olympic Games breathe life into a dream. Leotard-wearing little girls by the hundreds have walked into the World Olympic Gymnastics Academies since Nastia Liukin's all-around gold.

A lingering storm system drenched parts of Dallas, Denton and Collin counties Wednesday, but only a slight chance of rain remains in today's forecast, a National Weather Service meteorologist said.

A grove of trees planted near North Central Expressway and Woodall Rodgers Freeway to help make downtown "green" is anything but green these days. About half the trees are dead because of summer heat, heavy winds and insufficient watering, said Steve Houser, a certified arborist.

A 21-year-old man faces a misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report after he told Dallas officers that a 1-year-old baby was inside his missing vehicle, police said.

So far, August breaks neatly in two – the first part hot and dry, with the summer's high temperature of 107, and the other cool and damp, just 83 degrees Wednesday. Rain has fallen for the last six days, far more in some places than others.

A pitched controversy over the Dallas Zoo's last remaining elephant took an unexpected turn Wednesday when zoo officials recommended that the animal remain in Dallas and that a new 4-acre elephant habitat be fast-tracked for completion.

The spring mayoral race in Farmers Branch featured an emotional debate over the city's finances.

Dalton Sherman's words were simple but powerful. "We need you."

DALLAS — One person was transported to a nearby hospital late Wednesday night after a bus carrying passengers from Mexico to Ohio crashed in the 400 block of Marsalis Avenue.

IRVING — The Dallas Cowboys are already starting their good-byes at Texas Stadium. Thousands of fans turned out for a rare open practice Wednesday night, which was billed as the beginning of a season-long "Farewell to Texas Stadium" commemoration.

These are busy times for bill collectors. Whether that's good or bad, depends on if you're a bill collector.

FORT WORTH - An 8-year-old boy recently found himself at the center of a 911 drama in which rescuers couldn't find the victim, his pregnant mother. When Joleen Quigg, a MedStar dispatcher, answered the emergency call for a mother having a seizure, she said she immediately faced two challenges.

TELICO, Texas — When a life is on the line, time is of the essence. That's why some Ellis County residents say shrinking their rural ambulance service to just two vehicles is a dangerous decision.

Seeking to defuse an elephant-size controversy, the Dallas Zoo announced today that Jenny the elephant isn’t going anywhere. The zoo's decision to keep Jenny at the zoo caught a lot of people by surprise, including Dallas City council members.

Tarrant County voters this fall must decide who'll be the next sheriff. The Republican incumbent, Dee Anderson, is up for re-election.

FORT WORTH — Three Tarrant County jail inmates may face new charges after a failed escape attempt Wednesday and scuffle that injured three county workers, the sheriff's office said.

IRVING — Irving firefighters quickly controlled a fire at the Mowhawk Labs facility on Carl Road Wednesday morning. The first alarm went out at 11:30 at the facility that makes cleaners, lubricants, disinfectants and other industrial chemicals.