Local News - Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – A record number of school districts – many of them in North Texas – are expected to be named share-the-wealth districts in the coming school year, dealing a blow to efforts by legislative leaders to scale back the state's "Robin Hood" funding law.

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.

A Kaufman County jury has awarded the Sovereign Cherokee Nation Tejas more than $22 million in damages in their lawsuit against the group's former attorney general, longtime Dallas lawyer Frank Hernandez.

Ellis County commissioners will reconsider a plan Monday that would reduce the number of ambulances serving about 700 square miles of rural Ellis County.

Devean George is staying in Dallas after all. George and the Mavericks reached an agreement Wednesday on a two-year contract worth about $4 million, according to Mark Bartelstein, George's agent.

Dalton Sherman’s words were simple, but powerful. “We need you.”

Kaufman County sheriff's deputies and other law enforcement officers rounded up one suspect in a major copper theft after a five-hour manhunt Wednesday morning and arrested his alleged accomplice hours later.

Columnist Jean-Jacques Taylor is wondering: Who has been the biggest star of these Olympics? Is it sprinter Usain Bolt or swimmer Michael Phelps? No matter the pick, both athletes have been electric.

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

David Garland has been chosen as interim president of Baylor University in Waco. Dr. Garland currently is dean of Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary.

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.

Before the first bell even rings, the 2008-09 school year is already straining the Swiatek family's checkbook in Allen. Putting three kids through public school doesn't come cheap.

Morning thunderstorms in Dallas and Collin counties were wreaking havoc Wednesday, with traffic tie-ups, street flooding and lightning strikes that touched off fires. And another 4 inches of rain could fall today, the National Weather Service said.

BEIJING – On one wall of the U.S. Olympic Committee's Beijing office are 8-by-11 printouts commemorating each American medal earned during these Games.

Federal and state leaders, frustrated by delays in expanding Interstate 35E through parts of Dallas and Denton counties, said Tuesday that a private contractor and tolls could be the keys to fast-tracking the project.

How about this for a digital-age dispute? The cities of Cedar Hill, DeSoto and Duncanville recently began testing a powerful new police communications system, but the system is so robust that the radio signals are reaching as far as 30 miles away.

After weeks of cutting, scrimping and saving, Dallas County officials thought they had closed all but about $2 million of a $34 million budget shortfall.

Singer, actress and North Texas native Jessica Simpson will soon be marketing beer, according to an announcement expected today from a local brewing company.

The Texas Education Agency has assigned a monitor to keep tabs on improvement efforts at three schools in the Dallas school district.