One person was killed in a single-car accident in south Fort Worth early Wednesday morning.
The accident occurred at about 2:20 a.m. in the 6700 block of McCart Avenue, near Alta Mesa Boulevard. The car rammed into a pole in front of the Polo Club Apartments, police said.
The driver, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Downtown DART trains were temporarily delayed after a car was hit by a light rail train just before 6 p.m..
The driver made an illegal turn in front of the train near N Field Street and Pacific Avenue, said DART spokesman Morgan Lyons. No one was injured.
The accident was cleared and the train was released. Everything should be back to normal shortly, Lyons said. The train involved in the accident was delayed the longest at 20 minutes.
Tarrant County fire marshals responded to a home explosion in the 6500 block of Appian Way near Azle Tuesday evening.
Marshals received the call of the explosion and a fire at a one-story wood frame house by Texas State Highway 199 around 4:30 p.m..
The explosion blew the walls out about 150 feet from the sides of the house, said Tarrant County Fire Marshal Randy Renois.
The cause of the explosion is undetermined, though authorities suspect it might have been a gas leak. There is a propane gas tank at the scene, but Renois said it’s unclear whether it caused the explosion.
The homeowner was not there at the time of the explosion, but at least one dog died in the house, Renois said.
A rental house on the property was not damaged.
Claire Cardona contributed to this report.
Supporters of the Affordable Care Act held a rally Monday before the congressional hearing began. (David Woo/DMN)
A congressional committee came to town Monday to look into alleged problems with local navigators guiding Texans trying to buy insurance through President Obama’s new health program.
The “field hearing” was instigated by a hidden-camera video focused on several Dallas area navigators, who seem to encourage an “undercover applicant” to lie about his income and his smoking habits.
Six members of Congress showed up to parse the problems, but the people who created the video “evidence” were absent. It’s possible they wore disguises to blend into the audience of about 200 people.
Among the missing was James O’Keefe, whose Project Veritas made the gotcha videos in question. The conservative activist was the same one who took down the national ACORN organization after posing as a pimp espousing illegal activities in 2009. The following year, he and others were arrested while attempting to plant listening devices on telephones in U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu’s office.
This time, O’Keefe relies on Lawrence Jones, a so-called insurance applicant, who was sent repeatedly to sign up for health insurance at Dallas area health centers. Jones’ only appearance at the Monday hearing was in a Fox News clip.
In fact, Jones is a bit of a mystery man, including whether or not he’s local. The videos show him telling navigators he’s a barber, who earned $15,000 last year but did not report additional income from cleaning houses. He asks what he should do about the discrepancy and is told more than once to continue lying.
The members of Congress, including the lone Democrat, denounced what the navigators’ said. But they did not question the methods used to catch such wrongdoing, including the fake information provided on fake applications by a fake applicant.
Jones explains in a subsequent video that he was hired by Project Veritas to pose these questions. His starring role turned into a paying job, he says, because “I was doing this for awhile.”
The video segments were repackaged with appearances by O’Keefe, who declares at the end of the first release: “There’s a new sheriff in town,” meaning him.
Tony Smith may be listed as an employee in Dallas County’s public works department.
But as an expert in Geographic Information Systems – a specialized computer mapping and data tool – Smith has proved a major cog in departments ranging from elections to health and human services.
Tony Smith, Dallas County's Employee of the Year (Courtesy of Dallas County)
And Smith was honored on Tuesday for that wide-ranging effort and expertise, earning the county’s employee of the year award.
“My baseline guy, my do-it-all guy is Tony Smith,” said Alberta Blair, county public works director.
Smith started at the county in 1987, after graduating from Prairie View A&M, officials said. He began as a surveyor. But he eventually worked his way up by teaching himself about GIS – and eventually mastering the field.
The knowledge proved critical recently, especially during last year’s West Nile virus crisis. Smith’s mapping helped target trouble areas and coordinate the sprayings that helped eradicate the virus-carrying mosquitoes.
Now Smith is helping launch GIS Enterprise, which will create a mapping and data network throughout county government.
But he’ll first have to take his employee of the year prize: a day off from work. That’s if his bosses can pry him away from his job.
“That’s not a prize for him,” Blair said with a laugh, adding that they would find an appropriate gift. “A day off for him is not a good time.”
Southern Methodist University has hired Jennifer Collins as its new dean of Dedman School of Law.
Jennifer Collins (Courtesy of SMU)
Collins, a scholar of family and criminal law, is vice provost at Wake Forest University. At Wake Forest, she taught classes about legal professionalism and about gender and the law while serving as a university administrator.
Prior to teaching, she worked as a lawyer for private law firms and in the public sector. She was an attorney-adviser for the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel and a prosecutor for the homicide section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia.
Collins received her B.A. in history from Yale University and her J.D. from Harvard University. She joined the faculty of Wake Forest University School of Law in 2003.
She has researched and written law review articles about issues related to families and the criminal justice system, including the prosecution of parents who are responsible for their children’s deaths. She coauthored the book “Privilege or Punish: Criminal Justice and the Challenge of Family Ties” with Dan Markel and Ethan Leib.
Collins succeeds John Attanasio, the law school’s dean from 1998 to 2013. SMU declined to renew Attanasio’s contract, which expired in May.
The Arlington Housing Authority will begin accepting applications for temporary financial assistance this week.
The city’s Homeless Housing and Services Program grant has been renewed until Sept. 30, 2014. During that time, the housing authority expects to assist about 370 homeless people. The city received $289,345 in grant money from the state.
The program aims to provide short-term assistance to families on the verge of being evicted from their homes. Typically, recipients have recently lost their job and fell behind on rent payments, said David Zappasodi, executive director of the Arlington Housing Authority.
The grant falls into the city’s larger goal to end chronic homelessness by 2019. Eligible recipients include those about to lose their homes or people who are trying to pay application fees and deposits to escape homelessness, Zappasodi said.
“This is a program that is designed to fit needs that are currently not being met in the community,” he said. “This is a niche market.”
The one-time assistance is meant to get families back on track.
The Homeless Housing and Services Program also operates in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and Austin. The city’s last grant expired in September.
For more information, go to Homeless Prevention at arlingtontx.gov/housing.
Update at 9:55 a.m.: One lane has reopened.
Update at 8:54 a.m.: Those westbound lanes remain closed several hours after the accident and fuel spill while crews attempt to tow the wrecked 18-wheeler’s cab out of the HOV lane.
Original item posted at 6:14 a.m.: The westbound lanes of Interstate 30 at Sylvan Avenue are expected to remain closed for a few hours Monday morning following a multi-vehicle collision that resulted in a diesel fuel spill along the highway.
According to authorities, just before 4 this morning a Kia carrying two passengers tried to exit Sylvan but instead hit the barrier, causing it to essentially bounce back into oncoming traffic. There, it encountered an 18-wheeler carrying a guesstimated 20,000 pounds of auto parts. The truck clipped the Kia, then wound up in HOV lane, where it came to rest against the traffic barrier in the HOV lane.
The truck trailer was damaged in the crash; it will have to be towed away. Dallas Fire-Rescue crews are also on the scene as its HazMat personnel mop up the diesel fuel spill that poured out of the truck’s diesel tank.
Authorities say the passengers in the Kia and the driver of the truck sustained only minor injuries.
Traffic’s heavy now. And it’s just going to go get worse until crews reopen the highway. We’ll update when they do.
Tony Dickerson
Update, 9:33 a.m. The grandfather of a 5-year-old boy killed in a car accident Sunday night outside Seagoville has been charged with intoxication manslaughter.
Officials say Tony Dickerson, 52, was the driver in the crash that killed the child, identified as Josiah Dickerson. The boy was transported to Children’s Medical Center Dallas at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday and was pronounced dead.
Dickerson told authorities that he lost control of his pickup truck while he was taking his grandson for a ride just down the street. He tried to make a U-turn near West Simonds and Bowers roads when he lost control of his pickup and smashed into a pole.
Dallas County sheriff’s officers who responded to the scene smelled alcohol on Dickerson’s breath, according to an arrest warrant. Dickerson told them he had six beers since 3 p.m. Officers conducted field sobriety tests and determined he was intoxicated.
Dickerson was booked into the Dallas County jail Monday with bond set at $50,000.
Original post by Claire Cardona: A 5-year-old boy died Sunday night after a major accident in southeast Dallas County.
The boy was taken from 2300 W Simonds Road to Children’s Medical Center Dallas shortly after 8:30 p.m. where he was pronounced dead, said Dallas County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Carmen Castro.
Another earthquake was recorded Saturday in the Eagle Mountain Lake area, northwest of Fort Worth.
The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the 2.8 magnitude quake near Springtown at 10:54 p.m. It is the 20th quake to hit the area since Nov. 1. Three other quakes were recorded nearby, just north of Mineral Wells.
Southern Methodist University announced Dec. 9 that seismologists would deploy monitors in and around Azle to study the quakes. The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, have stated that the injection well process used in fracking is not to blame for the quakes.
“When earthquakes are reported, our staff will determine if saltwater disposal wells are nearby and then inspect the facilities to ensure that they are in compliance with their Railroad Commission permit conditions,” said commission spokeswoman Ramona Nye. “Please keep in mind, that some reported earthquake epicenters in Texas have not been near saltwater disposal or injection wells.”
