Veteran guard Odyssey Sims signed a hardship contract with the Dallas Wings, the team announced Tuesday.

A hardship exception is a replacement contract eligible to any team with two players out due to injury, illness, or other conditions. Sims replaces Morgan Bertsch, who previously signed following forward Maddy Siegrist’s injury last week (finger) but was released on Monday.

The Irving-native rejoins her hometown team, as the Wings look to breathe new life into their losing season. Sims, 31, played for the Wings in three previous stints, including when the team was formerly in Tulsa.

Dallas sits at the bottom of the league on an 11-game losing streak, without a win since May 26.

Sims played 28 games with the Wings last season. She joined the team via a hardship exception, before signing a rest-of-season contract on June 28, 2023. She averaged 12.0 minutes, 2.0 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game.

She began playing in Dallas in 2016 after the Tulsa Shock moved their franchise and became the Wings at the end of 2015. She appeared in 34 games, averaging 14 points and nearly four assists.

The 5-8 guard brings a decorated 11-year professional career to the losing team.

Since being drafted second overall in the 2014 WNBA draft, Sims has averaged 11.1 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.0 steals per game. She was a member of the 2014 All-Rookie team while on the Tulsa Shock, was named a 2019 All-Star and made All-WNBA Second Team while on the Minnesota Lynx.

She also brings much-needed winning experience in her home state.

At Irving MacArthur, Sims led her team to the state semifinals her senior year. She was rated the top point guard in the class of 2010 and had her jersey retired. At Baylor, she was a member of the 2012 national championship team, finishing the season with a perfect 40-0 record.

The veteran was also a part of the Los Angeles Sparks’ 2017 and the Connecticut Sun’s 2022 WNBA finalist teams.

Sims will make her debut on Thursday, as the Wings look to reverse their luck against Minnesota.

Find more WNBA coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

Dallas roads are getting more congested, according to a new traffic study.

Transportation data and analytics company INRIX studied hundreds of cities around the world and found that post-COVID, traffic patterns are still adjusting, with a new midday rush hour and different peak travel times.

Traffic in Dallas has increased 12% compared to before the pandemic, according to the company’s 2023 Global Traffic Scorecard. The report ranked Dallas as the 17th most congested city in the country.

Long-distance commuting has surged across the country after the pandemic, according to a study by Stanford University researchers. On average, people who work in Dallas have added 35 miles per trip to their commutes. “Super commuting” more than 75 miles to work has increased 29% post-pandemic, the study found.

Bob Pishue, the traffic scorecard’s author and a transportation data analyst at INRIX, said Dallas doesn’t have as much traffic as other large metros, despite its large size. Toll roads and public-private partnerships give the city more ways to address transportation issues to alleviate traffic.

“Texas is always looking at interesting ways to finance and deliver infrastructure, and that is not that common in other states or areas,” Pishue said. “Dallas isn’t afraid to build.”

While the city isn’t at the top of the country’s most congested cities, Dallas drivers still face busy roads every day.

“If you’re sitting in it, it sucks,” Pishue said. “[But] for its size, it does pretty well in terms of traffic congestion and delay.”

The average driver in Dallas lost 38 hours due to congestion in 2023, a six-hour increase from 2022, costing $658 in wasted time. This was slightly below the national average of 42 hours. The value of time lost in traffic was based on the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s 2016 guidance, which puts one hour in traffic at $17.45 after adjusting for inflation. The value takes into account a population’s average hourly income, demographics, mode of transportation, purpose of travel, distance and other factors.

Dallas’ US-80 Eastbound from I-635 to FM 548 in Forney was the 11th most congested corridor in the country, with drivers losing 66 hours due to traffic on that corridor alone. Its peak congestion is reported around 5 p.m., the study found. The Texas Department of Transportation is in the process of expanding that route from two to three lanes in each direction as the Kaufman County city ranks among the fastest growing in the country.

I-30 Westbound from St. Francis Avenue to I-345 is the city’s second busiest corridor, with an average delay of 34 hours annually for Dallas drivers. Third was North Walton Walker Blvd.

The company has published an annual report on traffic patterns for more than 15 years. The scorecard looks at nearly 1,000 cities across 37 countries to see how traffic is changing and uses anonymized data from trucking fleets, delivery vehicles, passenger vehicles, mobile apps and more.

The pandemic changed traffic patterns, but congestion is ramping back up as people return to offices. Still, Pishue sees a “new normal” on the roads. Dallas is one of many American cities experiencing a new mid-day traffic rush as work schedules are more flexible and many people work from home.

INRIX found a 23% increase in mid-day trips in the U.S. compared to before the pandemic. Almost as many trips are made nationwide at noon as at 5 p.m., the report said. Work hours and changes to the traditional workday have also affected traffic patterns. Across the country, the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. each saw a higher volume of trips than 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Another change has occurred in downtown trips. In Dallas, Pishue said the downtown holds only about 2% of the region’s jobs, and the pandemic deemphasized, to different degrees, downtown areas across the country as economic centers. But in 2023, the city’s downtown trip volume was up 3% and the average speed for drivers downtown was 16 mph.

The scorecard put New York City as the most congested city in the world, followed by Mexico City and London. According to the report, traffic congestion shows economic growth but also means lost time and money for commuters.

The report helps cities identify problems in transportation systems and address issues relating to traffic patterns, Pishue said.

“Those that do it best, at least right now, are looking at these post-COVID travel patterns and adjusting,” Pishue said. “That’s what it’s about, is being able to adjust more frequently.”

Dallas drivers are putting in more miles to get to work, study finds

Workday commutes have increased 35 miles following the COVID-19 pandemic.

As DART looks to extend Joppa Rides program, usage remains low among residents

Dart is proposing the expansion of a program that uses Uber to provide rides for residents of the Joppa community. The extension would give more time for a planned pedestrian bridge to be finished.

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BNSF Railway ordered to pay tribe nearly $400 million for trespassing with oil trains

Fort Worth-based BNSF Railway must pay nearly $400 million to a Native American tribe in Washington state, a federal judge ordered Monday after finding that the company intentionally trespassed when it repeatedly ran 100-car trains carrying crude oil across the tribe’s reservation.

Bo Dallas says all he ever wanted was to be like his brother.

It was widely been known that Bo Dallas was the man under the Uncle Howdy mask. As Uncle Howdy, he briefly worked with his brother, Bray Wyatt, at the end of Wyatt’s time in WWE. Howdy was then absent for over a year, as Wyatt passed away in August.

Uncle Howdy returned on the June 17 episode of WWE RAW, and the Wyatt Sicks made a violent first impression as they laid out everyone backstage. The following week, Nikki Cross of the Wyatt Sicks gave Michael Cole a VHS tape. WWE played the tape, and Uncle Howdy was shown talking to someone, who was revealed to be Dallas.

Howdy asked Dallas what it felt like when his brother died. Dallas said that all he ever wanted was to be like his brother, and he wanted to be him. He said that they were going to rule together, and they finally made it, but it was taken away. Dallas said that nobody felt what he did from this loss.

Howdy asked Bo Dallas if he felt like he was exposing his brother’s legacy. Dallas said that they wanted to forget about him, and the rest of the group, but they made everyone remember. Howdy said they did, and the two of them were shown sitting together.

WWE Raw Results (6/24/24)