City News Roundup

Get up to speed on urban farming at free class and more Dallas news

Learning to grow your own is not a bad idea right now.

Photo courtesy of Urban Roots

This roundup of city news includes two transportation tidbits, one on the high-speed train, another on a DART rail disruption. There's also info about a Juneteenth display, more banners in Deep Ellum, and a must-attend class on urban farming.

Here's what happened around Dallas this week:

High speed rail resignation
The CEO and president of Texas Central Partners, the company behind the high-speed rail project between Dallas and Houston, has resigned. Carlos Aguilar announced his departure via a Linked In post, stating he was unable to align stakeholders on a common vision for a path forward. Texas Central still plans to break ground on the 240-mile rail line, but is awaiting a ruling from the Texas Supreme Court that's been pending since January re: a landowner's claim that Texas Central has no right to take his land.

Urban farm demo
Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas is hosting an event that will give people the opportunity to learn more about small-scale agriculture and see some urban agriculture projects in person. Examples of urban agriculture include community gardens, rooftop farms, hydroponic, aeroponic, aquaponic, and vertical production. The event is on June 21 at 6 pm, at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research & Extension Center at Dallas, Water Education Building, 17360 Coit Rd. It's free but registration is required at tx.ag/UrbanAgDallas. In addition to lecture presentations, there will be a tour of AgriLife Extension's vegetable garden and high tunnel.

Historical display
The original Juneteenth order forcing Texas to release slaves is now on display at the Hall of State in Fair Park. Called General Order No. 3, it was a proclamation from June 19, 1865, in which General Gordon Granger pronounced that all enslaved African Americans living in Texas were free. The only known original copy is part of the permanent archives of the Dallas Historical Society. During Juneteenth weekend June 18-19, the document will be available for public viewing in the Hall of Heroes at the Hall of State from 10 am-5 pm on Tuesdays-Saturdays and 1-5 pm Sundays through the end of July.

Welcome to the U.S.A.
In celebration of Immigrant Heritage Month and Flag Day, the City of Dallas hosted a naturalization ceremony in collaboration with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Tuesday June 14. In the ceremony, 30 Dallas residents swore their Oath of Allegiance and became naturalized US citizens. The candidates came from 15 different countries including: Bangladesh, Burma, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, India, Japan, Liberia, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Syria, and Vietnam.

DART rail disruption
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) will operate shuttle buses instead of light rail vehicles between SMU/Mockingbird Station and Walnut Hill Station beginning Thursday June 23 through the end of service on Sunday June 26. Regularly scheduled light rail service will resume on Monday June 27. The disruption is so that DART can conduct concrete repairs on the elevated station at Park Lane Station and replace a section of rail north of SMU/Mockingbird Station. Shuttle buses will be operated by a third-party charter bus company and will not be DART branded. Passengers should look for charter buses at the red "Rail Disruption" bus stop signs located near each station to board a shuttle bus. Shuttle buses will provide service to each affected station.

These repair projects will impact Red and Orange Line passengers:

Red Line passengers will transfer to shuttle buses between SMU/Mockingbird Station and Walnut Hill Station.
Orange Line trains will only operate between DFW Airport Station and Pearl/Arts District Station. Northbound Orange Line passengers should board a Red Line or Blue Line train at Pearl/Arts District Station to SMU/Mockingbird Station, and transfer to a shuttle bus to continue to their destination.

More banners
The Deep Ellum Foundation has put up a new set of streetlight pole banners, themed "All-Comers," to spread the message that the Deep Ellum is for anyone and everyone, from artists Clint Mordecai, Favio Moreno, Hunter Moehring, Jessica Stewart, and Khafre Linwood.

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Fugitive News

Dallas Police Department arrests 99 fugitives in summer crime program

Dallas Police/Facebook

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The Dallas Police Department has a new round of arrests in Operation Justice Trail, a coordinated effort led by Police Chief Daniel Comeaux to apprehend individuals with violent felony warrants, with 99 fugitives arrested and taken into custody during June.

The program is a partnership between the Dallas Police Department and the United States Marshals Service which began on May 1, with a goal to identify and take into custody violent criminals. During the firest month of May, a nearly-identical haul of 98 violent felons were arrested, and the initiative will continue through the summer.

“Our goal is simple: to make Dallas the safest large city in America,” Chief Comeaux says in a statement. “We know that a small percentage of violent criminals are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime. By focusing our efforts on these individuals, we are sending a clear message—violence will not be tolerated in our city.”

These 99 fugitives, who collectively have 616 total arrests for crimes such as Assault on a Public Servant, Manufacture/Delivery of a Controlled Substance, Murder, Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Sexual Abuse of a Child, Reckless Driving, and Stalking, were taken into custody by the Dallas Police Department Fugitive Unit and U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force between June 1–30.

Of those 99 fugitives, 22 were women and 77 were men. Three had arrests for Illegal Entry into the U.S., and one had an arrest for Alien Inadmissibility - Section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

Officials told Fox 4 that officers used "a combination of the city’s camera system and old-fashioned good police work" to make the arrests.

North Texas Crime Stoppers is offering a guaranteed $1,000 reward for tips submitted to the crime stoppers tipline that lead to the arrest of any individual with an existing felony warrant for specific crimes, until August 31.

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