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[TexasStooge]

Man Crashes Into Police Car, Injuring 6 People

DALLAS, Texas (KXAS NBC5) -- Dallas investigators Sunday were trying to figure out what caused a man to crash into a police car, sending six people to the hospital.

Investigators said officer Guadalupe Ortega was pulled over on Harry Hines helping four stranded motorists when a Ford F-150 plowed into her police car.

Amazingly, Ortega made it out of the accident alive.

But Ortega was still not in the clear Sunday.

Police said she suffered a broken neck and has to undergo a dangerous operation that could leave her paralyzed.

Her brother,Orlando, said he believes she'll pull through.

The suspect was in serious condition Sunday evening. Investigators said a blood-alcohol test should be available in a few weeks.

One of the four stranded passengers was also in serious condition Sunday evening. The other three passengers were in stable conditions.

[TexasStooge]

Fort Worth Approves Record-Breaking Bond Package

FORT WORTH, Texas (KXAS NBC5) -- Millions of dollars in improvements are in store for Fort Worth after voters there Saturday approved the biggest bond package in the city's history.

The $273 million bond package will raise money for hundreds of projects across Fort Worth.

The six propositions that voters approved funnel money towards street and sewer repairs, parks, libraries, fire stations and radio towers.

The package even includes a surgical unit at the animal control center.

[TexasStooge]

Police team keeps a close watch on sex offenders

By JENNIFER EMILY / The Dallas Morning News

In his day job, Steve Johnson sells business analysis software; in his off hours, he is part of a McKinney duo that tracks down and occasionally stakes out sex offenders.

The police reserve officer, assisted by McKinney police records clerk Dottie Lutz, checks in on the city's 53 registered sex offenders. They send those who break the law back to jail.

State law requires sex offenders to register with local authorities within seven days of moving. Sometimes they don't. McKinney officials decided the typical annual and sometimes quarterly checks weren't enough, and asked Officer Johnson and other reserve officers to make more house calls.

Now, Officer Johnson and Ms. Lutz begin looking for delinquent sex offenders on the eighth day.

"It's rewarding to get these guys off the street. If they comply, I have no problem," said Officer Johnson, a licensed peace officer who lives in Carrollton. "But if they try to duck us or abscond, then they belong back in jail. They have to do what the law says."

Sex offenders all over the country are required to register, but police agencies struggle to keep updated records as offenders move without notification. The Texas Department of Public Safety keeps an online database of all registered offenders, but the information relies on offender compliance and police agencies' varying abilities to track them.

[TexasStooge]

Group is upset by school's proposal

By Matt Frazier, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas - After performing the speeches of civil rights leaders and singing inspirational gospel songs across the nation and overseas, the Original King Kids of America say they now face discrimination from their home campus -- Dunbar 6th Grade School.

The King Kids were pushed off campus to a church across the street a year ago when new principal, Lewis Washington, banned after-school clubs so students could focus on the state-mandated testing.

Last week, Washington offered to allow the group to practice at Dunbar one day a week.

King Kids founder and director Charmion Johnson Polk said Friday that the offer is not good enough, but that she is planning a practice session on campus today as "a victory salute."

Click here for the full story

[TexasStooge]

Stock Show remains: lost items

By Amanda Rogers, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas - With more than 900,000 people attending the Stock Show, certain things are bound to get lost.

And, hopefully, found.

If so, the Fort Worth Police Department probably has them.

"We could have a garage sale," officer Shelby Sullivan said as she hefted a clear garbage bag filled with clothing.

Sullivan pulled out a youngster's black felt cowboy hat, a silver-studded denim jacket, a Dale Earnhardt (news - web sites) baseball cap and a Powerpuff Girls backpack. Among the pile of jackets, baby blankets and odd gloves rests a single white Converse tennis shoe, a well-loved baby doll and a pink Barbie ski cap.

"My little girl would come back for her Barbie hat," Sullivan confided.

[TexasStooge]

Helping a Sister City face worst

By Anna M. Tinsley, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas - Keith Wells has been busy packing pamphlets and CDs on how cities can guard against the worst situations, from natural disasters to epidemics, for his trip this week to Indonesia.

He and two others will head to Bandung on Thursday as part of an emergency-preparedness exchange program to show how Fort Worth prepares for emergencies and to learn how Bandung does so.

"They have knowledge of emergency preparedness, but they haven't had the resources to focus on it," said Wells, assistant emergency-management coordinator for the Fort Worth/Tarrant County Emergency Management Office. "This exchange makes it more of a priority.

"But it's a two-way street," he said. "We also can see what they're doing that we could incorporate here."

[TexasStooge]

Town learns lesson about assuming

By Bud Kennedy, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

When the Episcopal church in a small Texas town caught fire twice last summer, the rector called the attacks a religious hate crime against Episcopal conservatives.

We now know who set fire to the Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in Graham, 90 miles northwest of Fort Worth.

Hold the hysteria.

The fires were set by a couple of bored teen-agers.

In a dramatic moment at the Episcopal General Convention in Minneapolis on Aug. 6 -- the day after the Graham church opposed the confirmation of a gay bishop -- the Rev. Scott Wooten blamed a fire that day on a gay rights backlash and "the politics of hate."

Now, he concedes that he was "pretty much all wrong."

[TexasStooge]

City adding to Meacham

By Mike Lee, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas - The city is buying homes and other properties in high-noise areas near Meacham Airport with an eye toward redeveloping them for airport use, officials said.

The City Council is scheduled to vote today on three groups of properties, the latest round in a city effort to buy up about 30 acres at the southwest corner of the municipal airport.

The city has already bought another group of lots east of the airport, said Frank Klein, the city's point man on the project.

The buyouts are the culmination of years of work to move residents out of the high-noise areas, said Councilman Jim Lane, whose district includes the airport.

[TexasStooge]

Man was abused, has stress disorder, witnesses testify

By Kevin Lyons, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas - A former Army recruiter convicted of capital murder suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from his time as a soldier, and suffered emotional and physical abuse from his alcoholic father, defense witnesses testified Tuesday.

But prosecutors in the sentencing phase of Cleve "Duke" Foster's capital murder trial argued the validity of Foster's condition and upbringing because the star defense witness did not independently verify Foster's military record or talk to Foster's father and siblings.

Prosecutors ended the day with emotional testimony from Foster's ex-wife, who testified that Foster physically abused her and that he became angry when he found out that she was pregnant.

[TexasStooge]

Tattoo clue leads to arrest in slaying

By Deanna Boyd and Alex Branch, Star-Telegram Staff Writers

FORT WORTH, Texas - A 27-year-old Fort Worth man has been arrested on a capital murder warrant after DNA tests linked him to the rape of a 36-year-old mother beaten to death in October while her two sons slept in nearby rooms.

In the end, police said, it was a tattoo on the neck of Jeremy Ryan Wildman -- later determined to be his nickname "Casper" -- that helped lead to his arrest.

Wildman was arrested about 6 p.m. Monday at a privately run group home in the 1900 block of Alston Avenue. He remained in the Mansfield Jail on Tuesday with bail set at $500,000.

[TexasStooge]

Thieves Escape After Trying To Steal ATM

FORT WORTH, Texas (KXAS NBC5) -- Thieves tried to steal a cash machine overnight, damaging a Fort Worth tax office.

Officers say three men used a stolen truck to smash a Jackson Hewitt's window around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, and then tried to grab the ATM inside, but took the wrong part.

One witness called 911, and when police arrived the men were still in the the parking lot.

Police chased the men on foot but couldn't catch them.

Officers located the truck, which they say was stolen from a nearby restaurant parking lot. A portion of the ATM was found in the back of the truck.

The cash was in a portion of the ATM still at the office.

The theft is the fourth smash-and-grab in the Fort Worth area in the past several months.

Police are not saying if they are connected, but the latest incident has caused the most damage so far, NBC 5 reported.

[TexasStooge]

School board hopefuls emerge

By Matt Frazier, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas - Four candidates filed to run for seats on the school board Monday, the first day of filing for the May 15 election.

Henry Richard Gwozdz, a church music director and postal worker, and Bill Koehler, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Texas Christian University, will run for the at-large seat of board president.

Vicki Bargas, an administrative assistant, filed for the District 8 seat now held by Juan Rangel. Jeff Menges, a sales manager, filed to serve the remainder of Jesse Martinez's term as District 6 trustee.

Gwozdz, 49, who has twice run unsuccessfully for the school board, said he wanted to make the school district follow its own rules and be more open to the community.

"I think somebody has to answer to the public and that somebody has to enforce board policies and procedures," Gwozdz said. "If policy and procedures were enforced, I don't think the school district would have the problems it does now."

Koehler, 64, plans to retire from TCU in May. Koehler said he wanted a school district that approaches every issue and decision with one question in mind: Are we improving the future of our students?

[TexasStooge]

The T sees fewer riders after fare, route changes

By Mike Lee, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas - The number of people riding buses and trains in Tarrant County fell by 6 percent in the months after new fares and schedules went into effect, but transit officials say they hope to rebuild ridership over the next few years.

Regional leaders, who are counting on mass transit to help reduce air pollution and traffic congestion, say they hope the riders come back.

"We've got to start making plans on how we get efficient movement of our citizens through this city," said Fort Worth Councilman Chuck Silcox, who sits on a regional transportation planning board.

In an effort to balance its budget, the Fort Worth Transportation Authority raised bus fares from $1 to $1.25 in March and scaled back the number of bus routes in October. The T is a free-standing government agency that gets about 90 percent of its funding from a half-cent sales tax.

The new schedules reduced the number of early morning and late-night buses. The last buses now run at about 10:45 p.m. on most routes, and the Trinity Railway Express between Fort Worth and Dallas doesn't run after about 8 p.m. except on special occasions.

Bus ridership dropped 7 percent in October, November and December, which were the first three months of the new schedule, compared with the same period in 2002. Ridership on the Trinity Railway Express dropped 6 percent.

Ridership on all T services, including vanpools and the Mobility Impaired Transit Service, was down 6 percent.

The T was forced to cut routes because of a decline in sales tax revenue, spokesman Richard Maxwell said.

The T's managers hope to keep the routes stable for the next few years and let ridership rebuild, he said.

"You can imagine if you were a transit rider and we keep changing the routes, it's very frustrating," Maxwell said.

Ridership remains high on some routes, such as the East Lancaster and North Main buses.

"We feel like we decreased a lot of unproductive routes that didn't have anybody riding on them. We also have more passengers per hour" under the new schedule, Maxwell said.

"People can still get where they need to go; we just have less buses running around empty."

Christie Zupanic, a senior transportation planner at the North Central Texas Council of Governments, said the need for mass transit will only grow.

"As more and more vehicles crowd the roadway, traffic congestion has an increasingly negative effect on quality of life. Therefore, providing fast, affordable, reliable public transportation is essential in combating the negative effects of traffic congestion," she said.

[TexasStooge]

Patients taught to manage heart disease

By Jan Jarvis, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas - In 1999, Louis Phillippi's heart was so weak that he was not expected to live more than two years.

But Phillippi, of Fort Worth, said that when the years passed and he did not die, he began exercising regularly and eating healthful foods. Today, at 65, he is living with heart failure, which kills about 250,000 people nationwide annually.

"I guess you could say I'm a dead man walking," he said.

Heart failure, the heart's inability to pump enough blood throughout the body, is often viewed as a death sentence.

[TexasStooge]

Woman dies in hit-and-run collision

By Deanna Boyd, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas - A 76-year-old Fort Worth woman on her way to church was fatally injured Sunday night when her car was struck by a hit-and-run driver who witnesses say had run a red light.

Charlie Starr was pronounced dead at John Peter Smith Hospital at 6:10 p.m. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office has ruled her death a homicide from blunt-force injuries to her chest wall and aorta.

Police were searching for the driver of the pickup that fled the scene.

Traffic investigation unit Detective R.L. Wangler said Starr was driving a 1996 Chrysler south in the 4000 block of Old Mansfield Road when the wreck occurred about 5:50 p.m.

[TexasStooge]

Schools in dark on ratings system

As TAKS nears, delay of state's accountability plan worries educators

By JOSHUA BENTON / The Dallas Morning News

Are Texas schools supposed to be running a sprint or a marathon? Hurdles or a relay race?

That's the analogy some area superintendents are using to decry an unexpected delay in the creation of state's new school ratings system. Their schools will be expected to meet a long series of state requirements this year or be rated failures.

But they don't yet know what those requirements will be. All they know is that they'll be much harder than what they're used to.

"Everyone needs to know what the parameters are, what the standards are," said McKinney Superintendent David Anthony. "It's an undue pressure on the campuses and the districts. Our teachers don't need any additional stress in their lives."

Here's the problem: This fall, Texas public schools will be rated for the first time in two years, based primarily on how well their students perform on the TAKS test. The new accountability system – which determines how those ratings are decided – was supposed to be unveiled in December.

But the Texas Education Agency staff in charge of development has been swamped by other tasks – most significantly, working to make Texas compliant with the many requirements of No Child Left Behind, the federal education law that requires states to develop a separate accountability system. That has pushed the complex new school ratings system back.

"I think it would have been better if they could have had that information in advance," said Criss Cloudt, TEA's associate commissioner in charge of accountability. "But we should have it soon."

Dr. Cloudt said a preliminary version of the accountability system will be announced in the first week of March. After a period of public comment, the plans will be finalized in April, she said.

Students will take the year's first TAKS tests in only five days (Tuesday).

Since their debut in 1994, Texas' school ratings have been the centerpiece of the state's education reforms. They're the primary symbol of quality that schools use to impress parents, voters and real estate agents.

In the past, schools were rated based primarily on how many of their students passed the state's TAAS test. For instance, at least 90 percent of a school's students (and its students of varying racial subgroups) had to pass TAAS for the school to be "exemplary."

But Texas replaced the relatively easy TAAS with the TAKS test last year. During the transition, the state took a one-year ratings holiday.

"The gold standard we subscribe to is the state rating system," said Garland Superintendent Curtis Culwell. "We're anxious to find out the new benchmarks."

One small, but highly visible change under consideration: Getting rid of the "low-performing" label, the lowest schools could earn under the old system.

Dr. Cloudt said that the agency is considering changing "low-performing" to "academically unacceptable." The "acceptable" label would also change to "academically acceptable."

The new labels for schools would match the labels that have been used for districts since the 1990s. "It's a nice demarcation between the old system and the new system, I think," she said.

Although some parts of the new system are still undecided, Dr. Cloudt will say this much: Parents should be ready for big drops at schools that were rated highly on the TAAS standard.

"I think it'll be much harder to be exemplary, recognized and acceptable than in the old system," she said.

Part of that difficulty stems from TAKS, a much more difficult test than its predecessor. Passing rates on the first TAKS exams in 2003 were generally 10 to 20 percentage points lower than on 2002's TAAS.

But the Legislature also has added a series of new hurdles for schools to clear if they want to earn a good rating.

Among the new ratings criteria:

• How well did schools work with kids who failed last year's TAKS? Did their scores improve this year?

• Did the school's overall passing rate go up or down?

• How did special education students perform on the state's alternative assessment?

It remains unclear what standards schools will have to meet on these and other new measures. "It's a much more complex, complicated system," Dr. Cloudt said.

State officials will probably phase in the accountability system over time, making a good rating harder to achieve as the years pass by. When the last accountability system debuted in 1994, just 25 percent of a school's students had to pass TAAS for the school to be "acceptable." That number climbed steadily as the system aged; by 2002, the state required a 55 percent passing rate.

Whatever the new requirements, local superintendents said they'll adjust.

"Regardless of what the standards are going to be, we're doing what we can to get every kid to pass," said Duncanville Superintendent Jerry Cook. "It is somewhat frustrating not to know what the standards are. But I don't know if we could work any harder than we're working."

[TexasStooge]

After church burns, its pastor maintains spirit

By MICHAEL GRABELL / The Dallas Morning News

As fire investigators shoveled through the blackened rubble of what once was the laundry room of an Oak Lawn church, pastor Jacob Rodriguez talked of a task far greater than rebuilding the church's steel beams and bricks.

Instead, the 27-year-old spoke of the faith his shaken congregation would need as it moved forward from a fire that reached 60 feet high Tuesday night and left the All Peoples Church gutted by Wednesday morning.

"They can take away our building, but they can't take away our spirit and our soul," Mr. Rodriguez told a group of reporters who gathered by crime scene tape at the site Wednesday morning.

Investigators peered into scorched washers and dryers in the back of the 1956 Assemblies of God church. The department's arson dog, Ashly, sniffed the debris. But no cause has been determined.

"We're not ruling out arson at this time. We're not ruling out an accident," said Lt. Jesse Garcia, Dallas fire-rescue spokesman. Lt. Garcia did say the fire seems suspicious.

Area pastors visited the church to lend support and offer use of their chapels. Utility crews repaired power lines that had been stripped by flames. A handful of congregants shared stories about their work with the homeless and within the Hispanic community.

And everyone spoke in awe of how quickly the fire grew and the sound of the small explosions that shook the building at Oak Lawn and Congress avenues.

Fire dispatchers received the first call about 8:22 p.m. It was a warm night with not much wind, which prevented flames from damaging the rental car business and law office next door.

Dan Timmons and his wife were sitting in their townhouse behind the church when they heard a noise – as if something heavy had fallen. The lights went out at Tony's Wine Warehouse & Gourmet Restaurant across the street, where diners were treating themselves to dishes such as Long Island duck and crème brûlée.

Mr. Rodriguez and his wife, Rebekah, were at home nearby when they got the call from a church member. They had left the church about two hours earlier after stopping to pick up some papers in the office.

"Everything was fine. The lights were off, and we left," Ms. Rodriguez said. "And then we got a call."

A crowd gathered as more than 80 firefighters tried to extinguish the blaze, which the department designated as four alarms – a classification given to only a handful of fires a year.

As the building burned, David Lara, a pastor in the First Spanish Assembly of God Church in northwest Dallas, tried to comfort Mr. Rodriguez. He said his church at Brown and Knight streets, just four blocks away, burned in 1984.

"Behind all that smoke and those ashes, there is a blessing," he told Mr. Rodriguez. "Just trust in God."

The fire continued to flare through the night as Bibles in English, Spanish and Vietnamese fed the flames. About 6 a.m. Wednesday, an exposed air pocket revived the flames.

By the afternoon, talk turned to rebuilding. Church leaders planned a prayer service that night outside the church in a business parking lot.

They set up an account at Bank One under the name "All Peoples Church Rebuilding the Walls Fund" in hopes that people would be inspired to help them rebuild.

Seven years ago, Mr. Rodriguez had come as a Waxahachie seminary student to help start the church in a vacant brick building. Three years ago, he became pastor.

The church of about 100 members invited people from all walks of life. Leaders said they dedicated themselves to the community, picking up children from nearby public housing complexes for pizza parties and after-school care.

"The initial shock, grief. After that, there's hope, because we don't put our trust in the building, we put our trust in God," Ms. Rodriguez said. "So somehow, some way out of the ashes of this, we're going to find some good."

[TexasStooge]

Study: Job Dictates Dangerous Driving Habits

DALLAS, Texas (KXAS NBC5) -- Your risk for crashing your car or getting a speeding ticket depends on what you do for a living, according to a new study.

The report released by San Francisco-based Quality Planning Corporation found that students have the most crashes of any other group, followed by professionals.

Crashes

In fact, when it comes to crashes, medical doctors rank second only to students.

The study concluded that, on average, for every one thousand doctors, there are 109 wrecks, followed by 106 crashes for every 1,000 attorneys. Architects are a close third with 105 crashes per 1,000.

The news doesn't necessarily surprise Dr. Holly Lemons, of Baylor Medical Center.

"With the long hours and fatigue, and so much going through our minds, even when we are not doing our job, I think on the way home, I'm thinking about people's labs and what I need to do," Lemons said.

Also unfazed by the report is Paul Coggins, a former U.S. attorney who said his colleagues often dial and drive.

"I actually try not to do that anymore, so I think attorneys shouldn't be presumed guilty based on their occupation," Coggins said. "We should be presumed innocent on this, but I do know lots of people who take calls when they are in their car, and I think that contributes to their terrible records as drivers."

Busy schedules and high-pressure work may hamper a driver's attention and ability, but what about architects?

According to Tom Ott, a curious eye may be the reason he and his colleagues rank high as dangerous drivers.

"As an architect, we are trained from the beginning to be observers and, therefore, we observe everything, or try to observe everything that we see, and maybe that diverts our minds from driving sometimes," he said.

Speeding Tickets

Aside from crashes, the study also examined the frequency of speeding tickets.

Again, students ranked first. Enlisted military personnel ranked second followed by manual laborers. Politicians placed fourth.

Best Bets

On the other end of the road safety spectrum, the study concluded that farmers are the safest drivers.

Next to farmers, firemen have the fewest crashes, the study found.

Quality Planning Corporation created its report using data collected by insurance companies for 1 million drivers.

The survey ranked 40 occupations in all. For a complete list and rankings, please follow the link below.

[Josephine96]

Thank you for all the interesting stories

[TexasStooge]

You're welcome John.

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80 lose jobs in shuffle at JPS Net

By Mitch Mitchell, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas - About 80 JPS Health Network employees are losing their jobs to accommodate expanding bed capacity and an increasing number of patients, administration officials said Thursday.

About 60 of the employees will be given the opportunity to retrain and apply for other jobs in the network, the officials said, and a few others will be offered new positions.

But to one social worker, who got her certificate of recognition for 25 years of dedicated service Wednesday, the reorganization plan sounded a lot like she was being fired.