Dallas, TX
13% of Dallas trees are in danger as killer bug arrives. How city and residents must react
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/dmn/2TNWDVROHJGZHEO6SA65T47GM4.jpg "13% of Dallas trees are in danger as killer bug arrives. How city and residents must react")
We want a number of tree-loving heroes, so don’t wait to be requested.
The emerald ash borer — that nasty smaller-than-a-penny beetle that has slurped the life out of tens of hundreds of thousands of bushes throughout the U.S. since 2002 — has made its approach to Dallas and begun to feast on our valuable cover of inexperienced.
The Texas A&M Forest Service introduced final month that, for the primary time, its monitoring traps had captured the damaging beetle in a number of undisclosed areas inside the metropolis and elsewhere in Dallas County.
Left unprotected, each number of ash faces demise inside two to 3 years — the grand inexperienced ash bushes that flank the historic Sundown Inn at White Rock Lake, the maybe multiple million within the fragile ecosystem of the Nice Trinity Forest and the handful you’ve cared for thus fastidiously in your individual entrance yard.
The Texas Timber Basis predicts this terrible suck-fest threatens to take down as many as 13%, or nearly 2 million, of Dallas’ estimated 14.7 million bushes. Because the borer’s larvae hatch below the ash’s bark and gobble its vitamins, the tree has this “I’m now not consuming sunshine very nicely” second and its crown begins to go naked.
Each ash will starve to demise at its very core — all on the similar time that Metropolis Corridor has pledged to extend its tree cover from 32% to 37% by 2040, a key technique in its latest Complete Environmental and Local weather Motion Plan.
“If folks care about any of this — local weather change, poor air high quality, flooding, water high quality, even total high quality of life — they’ve obtained to contact their council members and foyer for extra employees and funds for this combat,” licensed arborist Steve Houser, longtime chair of town’s City Forest Advisory Committee, instructed me.
Most weak is the Nice Trinity Forest, the place ash makes up an estimated 40% of its bushes. Tens of hundreds extra are positioned on residential heaps and in metropolis parks and different public areas.
Native to Asia, the emerald ash borer was first present in southeast Michigan in 2002 and now thrives in 35 U.S. states. The insect confirmed up in northeast Texas six years in the past and, regionally, has additionally been confirmed in Tarrant, Denton and Parker counties.
Whereas the shiny inexperienced beetle has but to be trapped in Collin County, consultants say it nearly actually has additionally arrived there and in different counties surrounding Dallas.
The message out of the latest emerald ash borer briefing, the June 6 Metropolis Council Surroundings and Sustainability Committee assembly, is that Dallas nonetheless has time to get forward of this slow-rolling tsunami — however provided that everybody will get to work immediately.
“We now have an opportunity to do one thing early that can make an enormous distinction or we will sit on our arms and create an pointless disaster,” Metropolis Council member Jaynie Shultz stated.
Among the many concepts council members requested employees to look into is whether or not an emergency declaration would unencumber among the metropolis’s $7 million tree mitigation fund — designated for tree alternative however perennially underused — for the emerald ash borer combat.
Earlier than I let you know extra concerning the metropolis’s plans, let’s discuss what you, the property proprietor, must do proper now to cease this plague.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/dmn/LUHBQ4Q5OZFAHLLG5AT3E4BHMM.jpg)
Everybody I spoke with really useful a chemical injection into the tree’s trunk. These tree vaccines, administered by landscaping professionals, boast an excellent document in each curing an already contaminated ash and defending a still-healthy one from the beetle.
However the inoculations begin at about $150; the larger the tree, the pricier the remedy. You could repeat the method each two years for so long as the bug hangs round.
Another choice, particularly if the tree has considerably declined, is to take away it and exchange it with one thing aside from ash.
For those who don’t know whether or not you might have ash bushes in your property, test the information field printed with this column. There you’ll additionally discover particulars on easy methods to spot the issue and remedy choices.
Town has begun getting the phrase out to residents in spots the place the bug has been trapped, whereas additionally navigating easy methods to deal with the way forward for the numerous ash bushes in public areas.
Park division staffers are within the subject tallying ash bushes and tentatively plan to inoculate wholesome ones which might be no less than 24 inches in diameter in addition to these in thriving mature groves
In addition they will reduce down ash in parks which might be already badly in decline and exchange them with extra resilient bushes.
All removals will probably be fraught as a result of, in an effort to gradual the unfold, the state agriculture division quarantines counties the place the beetle has been discovered and limits the transportation of wooden waste in addition to the wooden itself.
Whilst town tries to determine easy methods to assist residents who can’t afford to deal with or take away ash, residents are pivotal in different infestation-fighting efforts. People accustomed to their neighborhood parks and favourite climbing trails, for instance, can alert metropolis employees to ash bushes that almost all must be saved.
The largest conundrum within the struggle in opposition to the emerald ash borer can be the place the overwhelming majority of native ash thrive — the Nice Trinity Forest, the most important city bottomland hardwood forest within the U.S. with its 6,000 acres or so stretching from the sting of downtown to Interstate 20.
Even naturalist Ben Sandifer, who is aware of this forest higher than anybody else within the metropolis, isn’t positive how finest to proceed, particularly provided that so lots of its bushes, which relish the “moist ft” that the bottomlands present, are nearly inaccessible.
Sandifer and Houser each jogged my memory that we’d be in a greater place had town acted on a 2008 replace to the forest’s administration plan, which offered a blueprint for diversifying its tree species. However with Metropolis Corridor hyper-focused on the time on a slowing financial system, no motion was ever taken.
I talked with Sandifer Wednesday morning about managing the lethal beetle as he, Dallas Morning Information photographer Rebecca Slezak and I walked a patch of the Nice Trinity Forest, passing by the protect the place the historic Large Spring gurgles and crossing slippery Bryan’s Slough.
Sandifer simply laughed once I requested him what number of ash bushes he would guess are out right here. “Take a look at this one spot. That’s most likely 1,000.” However the complete quantity? Like stars within the sky, how can one even know?”
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/dmn/HY774Z56UBAMJOMEHOLVFYUB4Y.jpg)
This tireless protector of the forest has jogged my memory many instances that the Nice Trinity Forest is “the lungs, liver and kidneys of our metropolis that clear our air, water and soil.”
He additionally may be very accustomed to the heavy-handed and indiscriminate method Dallas Metropolis Corridor has usually taken relating to its tree inhabitants, which is why he fears not simply emerald ash borer however the potential of human mismanagement of the combat.
The lack of the Nice Trinity Forest’s inexperienced ash will disrupt all the ecosystem — each the vegetation that flourish below their cover and the birds and butterflies that depend upon these bushes. However at this level it could be that the cycle of nature merely must run its course on this wild place.
That’s all of the extra cause that Metropolis Corridor and personal residents should do all we will to save lots of the ash cover exterior the forest.
Assistant metropolis supervisor Carl Simpson is within the lead as Dallas Park and Recreation and Dallas Water Utilities, accountable for the Nice Trinity Forest, accomplice on the emerald ash borer combat.
Rely me with these council members who at the latest briefing pressed Simpson to get a director-level employees individual devoted solely to combating this insect relatively than heaping the work onto already overstretched leaders.
The emerald ash borer is just not a here-today-gone-tomorrow drawback. It is going to be round for who is aware of how lengthy and shouldn’t merely be the ultimate merchandise on any individual’s already lengthy record of to-dos.
As Janette Monear, Texas Timber Basis’s president and CEO, identified to me, “We’ve simply been by one pandemic. We will’t afford a citywide tree pandemic.”
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/dmn/23LNSY6YYBB5NFGPIIUMOJYGJI.jpg)
(Rebecca Slezak / Workers Photographer)
Emerald ash borer info
Find out how to know in case your bushes are ash:
— Compound leaves, that means every leaf has a sequence of 5-11 leaflets, at all times an odd quantity, with a terminal leaflet on the finish.
— The leaflets are straight throughout from each other and their ends are pointed.
— Mature ash bark has distinct diamond-shape ridges. Youthful ash bark begins out easy and slowly turns into ridged.
For extra figuring out information, go to Texas Tree Trails and Texas A&M Forest Service.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/dmn/JGJZNKZNSBDOZM2VAKHTFJSHZI.jpg)
Indicators of emerald ash borer infestation:
— Lifeless branches on the prime of the tree.
— Leafy shoots sprouting from the trunk.
— Bark splitting to show larval galleries.
For residents with contaminated bushes:
— Insecticide injection is the popular remedy to attenuate affect to the outside world.
— Inoculations shield for as much as two years however run $150 to $300.
— No natural merchandise, past the assistance larvae-seeking woodpeckers present, have confirmed to be efficient.
— For bushes in superior phases of decline, elimination stands out as the solely possibility. A local alternative tree is strongly really useful.
For extra info, name the Metropolis of Dallas assist line: 214.670.3111 or e-mail CODForestry@dallascityhall.com
Robert Quinn (Charleston Co. Jail)
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – Former Dallas Cowboys defensive end Robert Quinn was arrested in South Carolina Friday morning after police said he tried to leave the scene of an accident.
Quinn, 34, was charged with leaving the scene of an accident with property damage and reckless driving, jail records show.
What we know:
Police in North Charleston, South Carolina responded to a car dealership just after 2 a.m. Friday because of a collision involving a red truck.
The North Charleston Fire Department arrived first on the scene and told police that the suspect might be attempting to leave the scene of the crash in another car.
When police arrived, they found Quinn in the passenger seat of a white Dodge Challenger that had its reverse lights on. The vehicle’s driver placed the car in park and told police she had been called by Quinn to “pick him up,” according to a police report.
Police said Quinn had visible injuries to his head and face, had slurred speech and was uncooperative with officers who asked for his identification.
Quinn eventually provided his identification to officers, but asked himself “where is my wallet” while his wallet was in his hand before dropping it in his lap.
The police report states a maroon Ford F-150 registered to Quinn was on the other side of the parking lot and looked to be the vehicle that started the collision.
Police said Quinn’s truck hit the passenger side of a Honda Element, which was pushed into a blue Ford F-150 that hit another car.
Officers asked Quinn to get out of the Challenger, but Quinn resisted by holding the door to the car, the report states. Police removed Quinn from the vehicle, and he was “escorted to the ground” by officers because he was trying to pull away from them.
Officers interviewed the woman with Quinn, who said she had met him at G-Club, a gentleman’s club, where she works, earlier that night.
Another employee of the club came to the scene and said Quinn had left alone about an hour before the collision happened.
Timeline:
Police said they used city cameras to build a timeline of the crash.
The police report states Quinn’s truck was seen driving down the road around 2 a.m. Friday and was veering left, crossed an intersection, a median and then onto dealership property.
City cameras did not pick up the collision, but it can be heard, the police report states.
Police said around 2:03 a.m. a single person is seen walking through the parking lot and a few minutes later that person walked to a Valero gas station.
At 2:07 a.m., the person is seen walking back to the dealership parking lot while stumbling and falling several times, the police report states.
About a minute later, a white Dodge Challenger is seen entering the parking lot around the same time that the fire department arrived, according to the report.
Dallas Cowboys Defensive End
Quinn played the 2019 season with the Dallas Cowboys after being traded from the Miami Dolphins for a sixth-round pick.
Quinn was suspended for the first two games of the season after violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. He was named the team’s starting right defensive end when he was reinstated.
Quinn finished the season with 25 tackles, 11.5 sacks and two forced fumbles.
Quinn signed a five-year, $70 million contract with the Chicago Bears the following season.
Quinn was drafted 14th overall by the St. Louis Rams in 2011 and spent six years with the team before going to Miami, Dallas, Chicago and ending his career in 2022 with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Quinn was born in North Charleston, South Carolina, where he played high school football before playing college football for the University of North Carolina.
The backstory:
This isn’t Quinn’s first tangle with law enforcement.
July 2012 – Florissant, Mo.
Quinn was arrested for driving while intoxicated in July 2012 in Florissant, Missouri, while a member of the St. Louis Rams.
Florissant police said Quinn was involved in a single-car accident on an exit ramp of Interstate 270 on July 10, 2012. Police said he was cooperative with them during the arrest.
Quinn was also charged with failure to exercise a high degree of care and having no insurance.
August 2023 – Summerville, S.C.
In August 2023, Quinn was arrested in Summerville, South Carolina after police found four unoccupied vehicles in a subdivision had been damaged.
At some point, Quinn allegedly exited his vehicle and got into a physical altercation with a woman before leaving the scene.
According to an accident report, a Ford F-150 truck crashed into multiple vehicles. Responding officers proceeded to search the vehicle and found an empty whiskey bottle on the passenger side floorboard.
Per the police report, the unidentified woman was sitting in her driveway when the suspect hit two parked vehicles. The driver then exited the truck and offered to buy her beer, the woman told investigators.
Quinn was charged with third-degree assault and battery, hit-and-run of an attended vehicle, four counts of hit-and-run property damage and striking fixtures on or adjacent to the highway.
What’s next:
Quinn was booked into the Charleston County, South Carolina jail.
Jail records show Quinn has a preliminary court date set for Feb. 27, 2025.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the North Charleston police department and previous FOX reporting.
DALLAS – North Texas got less snow than expected overnight.
FOX 4 Weather Meteorologist Evan Andrews said it was one of those crazy forecasts where some people got exactly what they expected, and others got the opposite.
“Some of you got that heavier precipitation [on Thursday]. Others were waiting for some overnight, and the precip overnight really never got going. We got a little bit of light snow on the backend but not a ton,” he said.
For snow lovers, the snow that was on the ground from Thursday is still there. However, the total accumulation did not increase much overnight.
Snowfall Totals (as of 4 a.m. Friday)
Overall, the areas of highest accumulation were north of Highway 182 in Cooke and Grayson counties. Areas like Gainesville, Sherman, and Bonham got more than 6 inches of snow.
A lot of people in Wise, Denton, and Collin counties got between 3 and 6 inches.
Fort Worth and North Dallas saw between 1 and 3 inches.
People south of Dallas got less than an inch of snow.
Thursday Snowfall (as of 9 p.m.)
Future Snowfall
No additional accumulation is expected on Friday, with the exception of maybe a few light flakes early Friday morning.
The Source: The information in this story comes from the FOX 4 Weather team.
For its 2025 season, Second Thought Theatre is going all-in on world premieres written by Dallas-Fort Worth playwrights.
While exploring the question of “What space does STT provide in DFW?” executive director Parker Davis Gray says, “STT is a place where audiences intentionally attend to be challenged by and wrestle with sharp new stories and an electric take on reimagined classics.”
The company likens this perspective to the work produced by the independent TV and film production company A24, and says that has inspired this upcoming season.
Opening Second Thought’s 21st season is Blake Hackler’s Healed, which follows Gail, who has been sick for 25 years.
Every doctor, every test, every treatment — none of it has worked. Now, with nothing left to lose, she sells everything and heads to a radical health center in the Texas Hill Country, run by the enigmatic and controversial Dr. T. Will this be her cure, her salvation, or something else entirely? It runs April 25-May 10, 2025.
Hackler’s previous work at STT includes the premieres of What We Were, The Necessities, and the 2018 Ibsen adaptation Enemies/ People.
Ringing in the summer is the sci-fi experiment Your Wife’s Dead Body, written by STT artistic associate Jenny Ledel in her playwriting premiere.
While Ledel is remembered for her performances in Belleville, Grounded, and What We Were, this shift to the other side of the table has been years in the making.
“Over the past few years, I’ve been reading Jenny’s plays and attending readings of her work,” says Gray, “she has such an accessible, inviting, and exciting voice that will resonate with Dallas as we begin to navigate the unknown landscape the next few years will bring us.”
Your Wife’s Dead Body takes place in the near future, as Jane takes advantage of a new AI technology that would extend her lifespan … even if she’s not around to see it for herself. A play about relationships, the nature of self, and what may or may not remain of us when we leave this life behind, this story asks us to consider the new and difficult questions humans may face as new technologies emerge.
Ledel’s world premiere will be directed by former STT artistic director (and Ledel’s husband) Alex Organ. It runs July 11-26, 2025.
To close out the 2025 season, STT will dive into a new genre with INCARNATE by STT’s own Parker Davis Gray.
Trapped in her cell, Rosamund is hellbent on escaping her fate while the Man who kidnapped her struggles with the consequences of what grief can do, and how far he will go to escape it. Can they live with themselves? Or more importantly, who else is living with them?
A horror/thriller that follows two artists over the course of a year in their seemingly pointless pursuit of creation while suffering under great grief. Directed by Jenna Burnett, who also directed the original reading at Undermain Theatre, it runs October 17-November 1, 2025.
In addition to a world premiere-packed season, STT will continue its year-long playwriting incubator program, Thought Process, andadd another development program to the docket.
2025 will be the inaugural year of Second Thought Theatre’s Associate Director Program, a year-long cohort aimed at providing professional development through education, exposure, and opportunity. Three early-career professionals will have the opportunity to assist on one production of the 2025 season, gain training and receive feedback from professional directors, spend the year working on scene study with STT artistic director Carson McCain, and then end their year with each director taking the lead on one to three readings.
“The purpose of this cohort is to fill a gap we currently see in the DFW arts community,” says McCain. “We want to offer early career directors a safe place to develop their craft and seek feedback from their peers and other professionals. We want this to be a group that allows directors to grow without the pressures of impressing a professional theater in order to be hired again. STT will serve as facilitators and educators, giving feedback, training, and a place to ask questions.”
Season subscriptions and individual tickets are now on sale at SecondThoughtTheatre.com. All productions will take place at Bryant Hall.
Second Thought Theatre Announces their new season centered around cost and consequence as they showcase the sharp and bold voices of local DFW playwrights.
South Dakota Childcare Task Force report says funding is needed
Tennessee vs. Texas Prediction, Odds and Key Players for Saturday, Jan. 11
Texas A&M to be without star guard Wade Taylor IV against Alabama
These four productions are now set to be filmed in Utah
Scott’s plan to cut school spending worries some educators
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
Trump Blames L.A. Wildfires on Newsom Using Familiar Tactics
'Deeply disgusted': GOP senator shreds Biden admin in scathing letter on new immigrant deportation shield
US Supreme Court critical of TikTok arguments against looming ban
Tiktok’s Final Appeal to the Supreme Court Didn’t Go Too Well
Drone Collision Grounds Firefighting Plane in Los Angeles
-
Business1 week agoThese are the top 7 issues facing the struggling restaurant industry in 2025
-
Culture1 week agoThe 25 worst losses in college football history, including Baylor’s 2024 entry at Colorado
-
Sports1 week agoThe top out-of-contract players available as free transfers: Kimmich, De Bruyne, Van Dijk…
-
Politics1 week agoNew Orleans attacker had 'remote detonator' for explosives in French Quarter, Biden says
-
Politics1 week agoCarter's judicial picks reshaped the federal bench across the country
-
Politics6 days agoWho Are the Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
-
Health5 days agoOzempic ‘microdosing’ is the new weight-loss trend: Should you try it?
-
World1 week agoIvory Coast says French troops to leave country after decades