As they scramble to move their classes online and figure out how to teach from home while their campuses are shut down, some college professors across Texas have found yet another challenge to contend with: internet trolls. Last month, colleges and universities nationwide shut down their campuses and sent students…
Like the rest of the country, Texas, the second-largest state both in population and land area, is in the midst of a public health crisis. In the state’s largest counties, the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus is rising drastically each day. Gov. Greg Abbott has shut down…
Dallas ISD students who don’t have internet access at home may have to wait a few weeks to receive mobile Wi-Fi hot spots. At a meeting last week, the district’s board of trustees voted unanimously to spend up to $2.5 million to buy 12,000 mobile hot spots to send home…
State and federal officials are setting up a pop-up hospital at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas to help expand the number of hospital beds available as the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continues to grow. During a news conference Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott said the…
Like many people, Rachael Wilkins has spent a lot of time lately reading the news and feeling like things are spinning out of control. The number of reported cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, ticks up each day, both nationwide and in North Texas. Schools are…
More than 155,000 Texans filed for unemployment last week as businesses across the state shut down as a part of a massive public health effort to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. That total, which was reported Thursday morning by the U.S. Department of Labor, is equal to about…
Three students at Southern Methodist University have tested positive for COVID-19, university officials said Wednesday. The students tested positive for the disease, which is caused by the novel coronavirus, after leaving the area for spring break, SMU President R. Gerald Turner said in a letter to students and faculty Thursday…
Classrooms at colleges and universities across North Texas sat empty Monday as students returned from spring break and resumed their classes from home. College campuses across Texas and nationwide are shut down, some for a few weeks and others through the end of the semester, in an effort to contain…
Last Tuesday, Yan Blair was supposed to be visiting a school in a village in the Republic of Georgia, observing teachers there as they walked their students through English lessons. After class, he was supposed to talk to those teachers about how to set up an after-school English language club…
First, the good news: After several years of steady increases, the number of homeless people living in Dallas and Collin counties fell this year, according to the results of the city’s annual homeless census. The bad news is that Dallas’ efforts to reach out to some of its most vulnerable…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will test all residents and staff at an Arlington retirement home where a man died after after contracting COVID-19, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Wednesday. The man, Patrick James, lived with his wife at Texas Masonic Retirement Center in Arlington. James was hospitalized Thursday…
A Dallas ISD student has tested positive for COVID-19, district officials confirmed Tuesday evening. The student, who is enrolled at J.L. Long Middle School, was likely sick with the virus while at school, said Robyn Harris, a district spokeswoman. The student is at home and is doing well, she said…
About 10 years ago, a winter storm passed through North Texas, covering Dallas in a sheet of ice and snow and forcing schools to close for nearly a week. After a few days, Stephen Sekula, a physics professor at Southern Methodist University, started wondering whether there wasn’t a better way…
Dallas public schools will close indefinitely as health officials continue to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus, district officials announced Monday afternoon. The district is on spring break this week. When students return, their classes will be delivered via online distance education, DISD officials said in a statement…
Gov. Greg Abbott is waiving student readiness testing requirements for school districts across the state as districts figure out how to respond to the coronavirus threat. Districts will no longer be required to conduct State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, testing for the 2019-20 school year. The…
A Tarrant County resident tested presumptive positive for COVID-19, health officials there announced Tuesday evening. The person is the sixth reported case of the novel coronavirus in North Texas and the 21st in the state, according to Texas Health and Human Services.
As Dallas ISD students and their parents get ready to head off for spring break, the district is working on a plan to keep everyone safe once they get back. The district’s spring break is next week, and officials are asking parents to fill out forms detailing any domestic or…
Dallas County reported its first case of the novel coronavirus after an out-of-state traveler tested “presumptive positive” for the disease, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins announced Tuesday afternoon. Jenkins described the person as “a 77-year-old out-of-state traveler with extensive travel history” and said the person is being treated at a Dallas-area…
The wife and child of a Frisco man who tested “presumed positive” Monday for the novel coronavirus have also tested positive for the disease, Collin County officials said Tuesday. County officials said the man traveled to Silicon Valley for business in late February. Santa Clara County, California, has been the…
Collin County health officials have identified a Frisco man as a “presumptive positive” case of the novel coronavirus. The man, who is in his late 30s, had recently traveled to California, where 114 cases of the virus have been confirmed, said Collin County Judge Chris Hill. The man is in…
A few minutes before 8 on a Thursday night last month, dozens of students, faculty and staff members crowded into a classroom in Baylor University’s Marrs McLean Science Building. Some stood in groups chatting. One faculty member stopped each student she didn’t already know, introduced herself and asked them about…
Austin city officials announced Friday afternoon that this year’s SXSW festival has been canceled over concerns about the novel coronavirus. In a statement, festival organizers said they were “devastated” by the cancellation of the festival, which was scheduled for March 13-21, but would try to reschedule the event. Organizers said…
