Dallas, TX
Coach says first-round pick Turner will be 'an absolute monster'
Rookie edge rusher Dallas Turner is “going to be an absolute monster” for the Vikings, coach Kevin O’Connell said after Turner played just four defensive snaps during Sunday’s loss to the Lions.
O’Connell noted the complexities of coordinator Brian Flores’ playbook and Turner’s inexperience relative to veteran edge rushers Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, Patrick Jones II and Jihad Ward.
“He’s working through it,” O’Connell said. “He’s a young player in a defense where the roles and responsibilities sometimes in-game can adjust based upon what we’re seeing. … We’ve got a really deep outside linebacker room. … I think he’s an incredible fit in our defense, not only in the present but in the future as well. He’s going to be an absolute monster for us.”
Turner, for whom the Vikings traded up to draft 17th overall out of Alabama, said Tuesday that he’s remaining patient while playing mostly on special teams. His defensive role has steadily declined each week, interrupted by a one-game absence because of a knee sprain. Turner played 36 defensive snaps in the Week 1 victory at the New York Giants. He’s seen just 46 defensive snaps over four appearances since.
There have been bright spots. Turner had a sack in the season opener. His speed flashed during a fourth-down stop when he corralled Jets running back Braelon Allen in the Oct. 6 victory in London. On special teams, coaches picked him as athletic enough to leap over the long snapper in an attempt to block the Lions’ game-winning field goal.
But Turner is the fifth edge rusher in the pecking order. Defensive coaches moved Turner off the line, giving him a few snaps at inside linebacker against the Lions while rotating through options to replace injured linebacker Blake Cashman.
“You gotta have patience in the league when you have dudes like that in front of you,” said Turner, who has played 82 defensive snaps and 81 special teams snaps, “You just have to soak up all the knowledge that they give you. … Just getting myself better every day. Not taking nothing for waste, still taking advantage of the opportunities. Making sure as a player, physically and mentally, that I’m still growing.”
Cashman appears likely to miss another start Thursday night against the Rams because of turf toe. He remained sidelined during Tuesday afternoon’s practice after sitting out Sunday’s loss to the Lions.
Dallas, TX
Dallas weather: June 28 morning forecast
Temperatures are expected to climb into the upper-90s and triple digits over the next week, with no real sign of relief! Sunshine dominates the forecast, with only a very slim chance of rain by the end of next week.
Dallas, TX
Dallas shooting injures 2 as police search for suspect
Dallas police are searching for a shooting suspect after two people were shot early Saturday morning.
The shooting incident happened around 6:30 a.m. when Dallas officers responded to a shooting call in the 7600 block of South Central Expressway, where two people had been shot.
Officials said one victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition by Dallas Fire-Rescue. The other was transported by private vehicle in stable condition.
No arrests have been made as of Saturday afternoon, according to Dallas Police.
The shooting investigation is ongoing and this story will be updated as we learn more.
Dallas, TX
All-day restaurant and patio coming to Dallas’ Knox and more top stories
UPDATE 6-26-2026: Gracie has been found about four miles south of the Cedar Hollow Ranch, according to a Facebook update from Real County Animal Rescue. Ranch manager Vic Jones has assembled a team to safely bring the wandering giraffe home.
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A giraffe named Gracie is missing in Texas, and the search for her has become a tall order.
Gracie, who is about 3 years old, has been missing for nearly two weeks after escaping her enclosure at Cedar Hollow Ranch in the Texas Hill Country, said Vic Jones, who owns the remote property about 100 miles west of San Antonio. He said Wednesday, June 24 that Gracie had wandered into a part of the privately owned preserve that other giraffes previously avoided.
Jones said he has sent up helicopters to look for Gracie, a few sightings have trickled in, and a $5,000 reward is on the table.
But the giraffe, which stands roughly the height of a tree, hasn’t turned up.
“She wound up going up and feeding in an area on the hillside and the rocky ledges that none of the other giraffes had ever gone on before,” Jones said. “And when she came down off of there, she came down on the wrong side of the gate.”
The ranch is in rural Real County, where its roughly 2,700 residents were put on alert to be on the lookout for a missing giraffe. Jones said the search area is extremely remote, and the likelihood of Gracie encountering any humans is low.
“People are not in danger of her because she’s not around people,” Jones said. ‘She’s out in very, very rough, heavily wooded lands.”
The Texas Hill Country has one of the largest concentrations of exotic captive animals in the country. Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson said the mild climate and rugged terrain seems to serve as a good stand-in for most of the animals’ native African environments.
He rattled off a list of animals that have gone missing over the years, especially after floods, but said this was his first giraffe.
“I’ve had wildebeests, I’ve had water buffalo, I’ve had monkeys, I’ve had zebras, all go missing,” Johnson said. “Sometimes we recover them, and sometimes we don’t.”
While the middle of Texas is not a giraffe’s native environment, Jones said Gracie should be able to find plenty of leaves and other vegetation to eat. He said other animals were not likely to bother her.
Jones said he initially had helicopters searching an area of about 7,500 acres (3,000 hectares) with no luck. A few days later, there was a report that Gracie was spotted to the south.
But by the time they could search the area, Jones said, she was already gone.
“We’re always two three days late for where the information is coming from, so that makes it tough,” Jones said.
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