From time to time, the stories that may get overlooked are about really important stuff. And again, we really do get it — there's a lot to read and never enough time. In that spirit, here are some stories from the news section in the past year that you might want to make some time for.
Dreamers Face Grim Future in the US as Trump Returns to Office
Following Donald Trump’s Nov. 5 presidential election win, we talked with a young "Dreamer" who has made the most of his time in America. Given that Trump has been a vocal opponent of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, Daniel Gallegos Banda, a local college standout, is worried about what the future he has worked so hard to build now holds for him.
Dallas CEO Catfishes Veterinary Community With Fake Facebook Profile
In one of the weirder stories we published in 2024, we took a look into the case of the CEO of a Dallas veterinary staffing company that had been caught catfishing countless members of the national veterinary community in order to gain information that would help her business. In November, Elise Burns of Evette Staffing admitted that her company had intentionally used the identity of a real veterinarian without her knowledge to participate in private Facebook groups, some of which were dedicated to assisting colleagues with their mental health. Vets from around the country reached out to us to let us know just how big of a deal this was to them.
North Texas Teachers Battered by Post-COVID Student Mental Health Crisis
Is there any corner of life upon which the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t cast its historically dark shadow? There aren’t many more affected by it than public schooling. While issues regarding student meals and learning have been widely reported on, another factor is being scrutinized: mental health. Teachers have been increasingly placed in the crosshairs of a surge that has brought student mental health to a full-blown crisis.
Dallas, Collin Counties Blow Deadline for State-Required Report Aimed at Combatting Sexual Assault
In February we found out that counties across the state had failed to submit the required Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) report on time. The aim of the law is to create more cohesive protocols and practices for addressing reports of adult sex crimes. The law mandating the reports was enacted in 2021 and the first reports were due in early 2023, but neither Dallas County nor Collin County had submitted theirs. Both finally did, but in two very different manners. Collin County’s report was thorough and substantial; on the other hand, Dallas County’s was a bare-bones shell of only a few pages that barely managed to address the absolute minimum required by state law.
Rogue Police Training Group Instructs Lewisville, Collin County Law Enforcement
There’s a police training company from New Jersey that isn’t allowed to train cops in New Jersey anymore following an investigation by the state’s comptroller’s office. Video taken from a 2021 Street Cop Training conference showed instructors using highly derogatory language towards racial minorities and women along with teaching methods that are considered unconstitutional. The fallout was impactful, leading the company to declare bankruptcy. Even though a number of departments cancelled the sessions they had booked with Street Cop, not all of them did. In April, we noticed that the Lewisville Police Department and the Collin County Sheriff’s Department had training classes booked through Street Cop. But once we started digging, that changed.
