Dallas-Fort Worth News (BETA)

Canadian students know geography. A three-person team from our northern neighbor won the gold medal in today's National Geographic Championship in Mexico City.

U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis ordered that the city not conduct any more council elections until a new system is implemented.

APThe fire was reported at the Indigo, which is near the intersection of Fort Worth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard.

Assistant District Attorney Benjamin Smith had asked Visiting Judge John Nelms to sentence John Barry to life in prison.

The size of the increases, if approved by the state, would vary with location.

The witnesses reported that the shots came from a car with three men inside, but no arrests were reported Wednesday, police said.

At least twopeople were injured in the high-rise for seniors in southwest Dallas.

Jack Hill, the new general manager of the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, made his initial appearance in Tarrant County court Wednesday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated charges.

Police say the victim's van overturned after being clipped by a maroon vehicle that was cutting across the lanes of Interstate 20 to make an exit.

This was the first arrest associated with the month-old strike at the Fort Worth plant, a police captain said.

The heat advisory that has been trailing unseasonably hot weather for most of a fortnight will likely be allowed to expire Thursday, National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Fano said.

Adryana Boyne, conservative commentator and a Republican spokeswoman on Hispanic affairs, will address the monthly meeting of the Denton County Republican Party at 7 p.m. Thursday in the second-floor community room of the Medical Center of Lewisville, 500 W. Main St.

Downtown Denton sidewalks will have a little extra sizzle this weekend, courtesy of a special sale sponsored by the Denton Main Street Association.

The Denton County Transportation Authority last week named Thomas LeBeau vice president of rail development.

Adorable adornment

A 3-year-old girl is recovering in the hospital after being mauled by a pit bull on Tuesday afternoon in the town of Venus. Elexa Gierhahn is in fair condition at Huguley Medical Center in Fort Worth, bandaged with wounds to her face and backside. Her parents have difficulty seeing their little girl in pain in a hospital bed.

A five-alarm fire broke out at a high-rise senior living center in Dallas on Wednesday afternoon. Two people were injured. It's the same building where a fire killed an elderly woman in 2005. There's no word yet on what caused the fire, which looked to be concentrated on or near the roof of the building.

A crippled economy doesn't mean that women will abandon their efforts to look and feel good. In fact, the Mary Kay Cosmetics company says it is seeing an increased number of new sales consultants. Many of them will be in Dallas over the next few weeks for the Annual Mary Kay Convention.

A business owner is in critical condition after he was shot at a Dallas gas station early Wednesday morning.  Now the workers at the store he owns are on edge.

A locally-based motorcycle manufacturer is closing its doors after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but not before having a huge liquidation sale. Customers at American Ironhorse, based in Fort Worth, are finding big discounts before the company says goodbye.

A fundraiser for a popular Fort Worth festival did more harm than good.

The Fort Worth City Council has decided that Councilwoman Kathleen Hicks' time is up as mayor pro tem.

Would accepting unemployment stimulus in the first place have been a better idea than borrowing now?

The Thunderduck Metal Camp at Richland College in Dallas this week teaches 12- to 16-year-old students the ins-and-outs of the manufacturing process.

A crafty burglar is using potted plants to plot burglary targets in Lakewood.

More than 500 children headed outside for at least part of the day on Tuesday at a city event that urged them to get outside and get active.

DALLAS - Every time the courts free an inmate wrongly convicted, it is headline news but what happens after the cameras leave? News 8 checked in on the last man to be exonerated, Jerry Lee Evans, and found he has a support group like no other.

PLANO — Getting a haircut, highlights or a new hair style can cut into your expenses, but a new "do" doesn't have to drain your wallet. A beauty school can be a great place to get a haircut for a fraction of salon prices.

IRVING — The mall isn't just a place for shopping. Simon malls — which include Irving Mall, Grapevine Mills, North East Mall in Hurst and Firewheel Town Center in Garland — are offering the Kidgits Club, featuring fun activities for the little ones in your family.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Mayor Mike Moncrief apologized for a raid on a gay bar that sparked claims of brutality and procedure violations after several members of a gay rights group were escorted out of a City Council meeting Tuesday.

The Fort Worth mayor says his recent apology wasn't for a law enforcement raid of a gay bar -- but for the man who was seriously injured. Mayor Mike Moncrief made an impromptu apology during Tuesday night's City Council meeting in which last month's Rainbow Lounge raid was discussed.

The state's largest insurer of homes has filed for a rate increase of up to 14-and-half percent for Dallas homeowners. That request now faces a review from the Texas Insurance Department. KERA's Bill Zeeble has more.

AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, said the carrier lost nearly 400 million dollars in the 2nd quarter. KERA's Bill Zeeble reports that's still better than a year ago.

The state unemployment insurance trust fund will run out of money next week, forcing the Texas Workforce Commission to borrow $643 million from the federal government to cover claims. State officials also said Tuesday they are overwhelmed by people applying for assistance and that 82,000 unemployed Texans whose benefits ran out will not receive the 13-week extensions they expected.

Benefit checks for some 15,000 unemployed Texans will be delayed beginning next week. KERA's Shelley Kofler reports thousands more may be affected in coming months.

The Dallas Police Department is expanding its crime fighting efforts on the Internet. Police wants you to watch and help catch criminals.

American Airlines parent AMR Corp. lost more money in the second quarter as fewer people got on its planes and those who did paid lower fares than a year ago.

The Dallas County Warrant Squad could be cut in half even as hundreds of thousands of warrants stack up.

Fort Worth police say a man driving into a Bell Helicopter plant was arrested Wednesday morning after hitting two picketing workers with his car.

A phony telemarketing sweepstakes in Texas uses scam artists posing as Federal Trade Commission workers. The Texas Attorney General's Office on Wednesday issued an advisory warning of the scheme.

Leprechaun LLC has named Susan Rawlings as its new chief executive officer.

Statewide construction will continue to decline in 2009, although at least one sector in the industry will improve, according to an outlook report from McGraw-Hill Construction.

Fast-food restaurant Smashburger, a Colorado-based burger chain food concept, has inked a deal with BIGG Capital Holdings LLC, a Dallas-based business development group led by football star Leonard Davis, to build Smashburger restaurants in Dallas.

North Texas-based telecommunications giant AT&T Inc. said Wednesday that despite a struggling economy and major concerns over health care costs, the company was able to reach a tentative labor contract agreement with 18,500 wireline employees who work in AT&T’s Midwest region.

Cement maker Texas Industries Inc. reported a fourth-quarter net loss, attributing the loss to a $39 million after-tax charge on the impairment of goodwill tied to the company’s operations in California. (TXI)

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish woman believed to have become the world's oldest new mother when she gave birth at 66 has died at 69, leaving behind twin toddlers, newspapers reported Wednesday.

ALICE, Texas (AP) — A former South Texas district attorney distributed more than $1.2 million in seized proceeds to three office employees over five years, according to a county audit.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The state unemployment insurance trust fund will run out of money next week, forcing the Texas Workforce Commission to borrow $643 million from the federal government to cover claims, officials said Tuesday.

DALLAS (AP) — Jenny the elephant has received an introduction to her new companion at the Dallas Zoo. Jenny and Gypsy were separated Tuesday by a fence, but they still stuck their trunks through the gaps, the Dallas Morning News reported.

MILLSAP — Fire departments from all over Parker County rushed to extinguish a stubborn brush fire that burned to within a few yards of several homes Tuesday afternoon.