Courtesy photo/Denton County Museums

Joe and Alice Skinner, seen here in a photo taken shortly after their wedding in 1913, lived in Quakertown, an African-American neighborhood in Denton that flourished for decades until it was razed to build a city park in the 1920s.

Denton County museum officials are hoping for contributions from residents to help with their latest book, Images of America: African Americans in Denton County. The book, to be published by Arcadia Publishing, is about two years from completion, but Georgia Caraway, executive director of Denton County Museums, said public input will be a vital part of getting the book completed.

For the DRC/Danny Fulgencio

Fred Ferraro of F&D Pro Shop demonstrates how bowling balls are drilled in his workshop at Denton’s Brunswick Zone bowling center.

F&D Pro Shop’s glass door muffles the thunder of pins and bowling balls in a Denton bowling alley, as it has for nearly a decade. Like an attentive Old World craftsman, 63-year-old Fred Ferraro caresses the contours of a bowler’s fingers, fashioning a perfect fit. Ferraro’s own hands are grandfatherly and precise as a whirring drill press sinks three holes into the bowling ball. In a refuge built for recreation, in a sport with its own culture and peculiar personalities, the Ferraros and Brunswick Zone’s close-knit household now face a slippery economic dilemma: Bowling’s skidding popularity is provoking change across the knock-and-crash world of oiled bowling lanes.

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DRC/David Minton

Hugh Nini, far right, directs Denton Ballet Academy students, from left, Susanna Strange, Corry James and Lauren Bancroft during a rehearsal Wednesday in Denton.

For Hugh Nini, more than 20 years of directing the local staging of The Nutcracker meant making peace with the headaches — both figurative and literal — that come with leading a production that calls on more than 100 dancers, a battalion of parent volunteers and endless problem solving. Nini never needed an award for making holiday magic on top of running Denton Ballet Academy, he said. He’s done it because he loves ballet — and because he loves watching children fall in love with it, too.

Denton Record-Chronicle/Al Key

University of North Texas President Gretchen Bataille stands in her office Wednesday.

University of North Texas President Gretchen Bataille was unaware she would abruptly resign or that there were any issues with her performance until the discussion was brought up in a Feb. 7 meeting she had with UNT system Chancellor Lee Jackson, she said. But questions still surround her resignation, which takes effect Sunday.

DRC/Barron Ludlum

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison chats with Ruby’s Diner on the Square regulars C.A. and Mary Jane Bell. Hutchison stopped by Tuesday morning during a campaign tour through the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison kicked off a daylong tour of North Texas on Tuesday morning with a stop at Ruby’s Diner on the Square. Hutchison is seeking to top her opponents, political newcomer Debra Medina and Gov. Rick Perry, for the right to be the Republican gubernatorial nominee in the November general election.

Kay Clayton and Keith McFarland

Kay Clayton, Texas Woman’s University’s provost and vice president of academic affairs, will step down effective March 1 because of health reasons. Clayton announced the decision to her staff and in an e-mail to the entire university Monday. She said she would begin her medical leave March 1 and would retire in late August.