Dallas, TX

Letters to the Editor — Dallas Cultural Trail, John Cornyn’s vote, abortion, Texas Lottery

Published

11 months ago

January 29, 2025

Letters to the Editor — Dallas Cultural Trail, John Cornyn’s vote, abortion, Texas Lottery

Trail may bring respect

Re: “Dallas Cultural Trail Gets Welcome Boost — Federal grant is first step toward celebration of what defines us,” Saturday editorial.

Finally, Fair Park and Deep Ellum are reaping deserved attention. The Arts District is of interest but rather nouveau, its antecedents being in Fair Park. Hopefully architectural jewels in Fair Park will merit more respect than has the Kalita Humphreys Theater — the only theater in the world designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and sentenced to persistent neglect.

Its carefully chosen park setting is threatened by that bane of Dallas — parking lots. Tourism could have been stimulated had its condition been improved and its existence promoted.

And, by the way, I wish someone would tell its history while some of the “originals” are still here to be interviewed.

Alison Wright, North Dallas

Writers also create beauty

Re: “To all the makers in our lives, thank you — Every object we touch was designed by someone with a sense of purpose,” by Christopher de Vinck, Saturday Opinion.

Again Mr. de Vinck reminds us of the beauty in our world. He didn’t mention one very important group — all the writers like himself who create beautiful books and stories.

Mary Spickler, Allen

Disappointed in Cornyn vote

Sen. John Cornyn, I watched Friday night with disappointment and dismay, but not surprise, as your vote advanced Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified candidate in history, to the post of secretary of defense. Your single vote represented your country’s and your constituents’ chance to support a different meritorious leader, a leader such as yourself, to this hugely consequential post. But you let this singular opportunity escape you. And you let us and yourself down.

Hegseth is a documented failed manager, having run one small organization into financial ruin through his mismanagement and having been removed by his own board for similar failures with a second. He’s an admitted philanderer and embarrassing public drunk. He suggests that he will restore “merit” to the armed services. Merit indeed! Can you put forth one, single meritorious action or recognition that qualifies Hegseth for this position? One?

When will you overcome your terror of the vindictive actions of the president and begin to listen to the wise counsel of your own good judgment and better angels? Your single vote could have shown courage and protected your legacy and reputation.

Ted M. Ingersoll, Dallas/Turtle Creek

U.S. looks cruel

Re: “GOP limits global abortion access — Rule forbids countries relying on U.S. funds from performing the procedure,” Sunday news story.

I guess I don’t understand the GOP’s obsession in making sure that women do not have any say on their health care. And after reading this story, the health of women not just in the U.S., but worldwide?

President Donald Trump just reinstated a policy that is known as the Global Gag Rule. The U.S., no matter who is the president, cannot fund abortions in another country. But the last time Trump decided to reinstate this, he took it a step further, so it didn’t just apply to family planning, but also agencies that were providing assistance to programs working on nutrition, malaria and HIV/AIDS. This caused many of the programs to close which impacted the poorest and hardest to reach populations in the world.

So, I guess, here are my questions: Do Trump and the GOP not want anyone in the world to have access to a safe abortion? Do they also not want them to have access to family planning (contraceptives, etc.) to eliminate the need for an abortion? And, to top it off, does it matter that they are cutting off funding to those in dire need of help to combat other health emergencies that affect mainly those who are poor, minorities and children?

The world is watching. The U.S. looks weak and cruel.

Nora Bollhagen, McKinney

About McKinley Tariff

Being a man of high curiosity but low creativity, I checked the Wikipedia page for “McKinley Tariff,” which was enacted when William McKinley was chair of the House Ways and Means Committee and Benjamin Harrison, not McKinley, was president.

I found the following, which brightened my mood: ”The tariff was not well received by Americans who suffered a steep increase in prices. In the 1890 election, Republicans lost their majority in the House with the number of seats they won reduced by nearly half, from 171 to 88. In the 1892 presidential election, Harrison was soundly defeated by Grover Cleveland, and the Senate, House, and presidency were all under Democratic control.”

William Carroll, Far North Dallas

Who’s watching lottery?

Re: “Report details Texas Lottery failures,” by Dave Lieber, Sunday Metro column.

Eleven million lottery tickets sold in three days from one store? Twenty-six million tickets purchased by a single syndicate? Our governor should be tweeting, “Aw, hell no!” Our attorney general, champion of the people, should be filing a lawsuit against the Texas Lottery. And our lieutenant governor should be proposing legislation to eliminate gray areas in lottery operations. Instead, crickets.

Steven Monserrate, Far North Dallas

Get this on record

I don’t know how sincere congressional Republicans were in taking exception to President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons, but I know how to find out: Introduce a motion of censure and let them go on record.

Ken Duble, Dallas/The Cedars

Welcome, coach

Re: “Coordinator is new head coach — Schottenheimer signs 4-year deal to become franchise’s 10th leader,” Saturday news story.

I spent my junior year at Stanford University studying abroad in Germany, so I’m always interested in German names like Schottenheimer. It amused me to translate the Cowboy’s new Coach Brian Schottenheimer’s German name: it means a “person whose home is Scotland.” Welcome, coach!

Sharon Hockensmith, McKinney

We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com

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Dallas, TX

Dallas Stars blow out Anaheim Ducks as offense explodes for third straight win

Published

10 hours ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

Dallas Stars blow out Anaheim Ducks as offense explodes for third straight win

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Jason Robertson had two goals and an assist, and the Dallas Stars beat the Anaheim Ducks 8-3 on Friday night for their third straight win.

Roope Hintz and Thomas Harley each had a goal and an assist, and Oskar Bäck, Sam Steel, Ilya Lybushkin and Adam Erne also scored for the Stars. who are an NHL-best 13-2-4 on the road. Mikko Rantanen and Miro Heiskanen each had two assists, and Casey DeSmith had 23 saves.

Ryan Poehling, Beckett Sennecke and Mikael Granlund scored for the Ducks, who have lost four of five. Lukas Dostal gave up four goals on seven shots before he was pulled with 5:41 left in the first period. Petr Mrazek came on and stopped 14 of the 18 shots he faced the rest of the way.

The Stars’ eight-goal output tied a season high, matching their 8-3 win at Edmonton on Nov. 25, and was the most the Ducks have given up.

Bäck gave the Stars a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal 2:37 into the game after the Ducks turned the puck over behind their net.

Poehling tied it 55 seconds later, scoring in close on the rebound of a point shot by Radko Gudas.

Hintz put Dallas back ahead at 4:42, getting a pass from Robertson in the slot, sliding backwards and firing a shot past Dostal for his 11th.

Steel pushed the Stars’ lead to 3-1 with 7:19 left in the first, scoring past Dostal while crashing into the net and dislodging it. The goal was confirmed after a review.

Harley made it a three-goal lead 1:38 later as he got a pass from Rantanen and scored from the right circle.

Robertson scored in front on a power play with 8:50 remaining in the second, and then put a backhander past Mrazek from the right circle 4 minutes later to make it 6-1. It gave Robertson a team-leading 22 goals.

Erne made it a six-goal lead with 1:30 left in the middle period.

After Sennecke pulled the Ducks back within five 1:01 into the third, Lybushkin got his first of the season 41 seconds later to extend the Stars’ lead to 8-2. Granlund capped the scoring with 5:38 remaining.

Up next

Stars: Host Toronto on Sunday.

Ducks: Host Columbus on Saturday.

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

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Dallas, TX

Don Stone, Dallas philanthropist and arts advocate, dies

Published

22 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

Don Stone, Dallas philanthropist and arts advocate, dies

Don Stone, a Dallas civic leader and strong supporter of the arts, died on Sunday. He was 96.

Angela Stone, Don’s youngest child, said her father was one of a kind, a rare mix of sweet and tough.

“He was just the most wonderful man I ever knew, just generous to a fault, smart, charming. He influenced so many people,” she said.

Stone gave widely across North Texas, including $500,000 to endow college scholarships for musically gifted Dallas ISD students. Stone also held leadership positions at several North Texas arts organizations, including the Dallas Public Library, Voices of Change, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Fine Arts Chamber Players, Orchestra of New Spain, the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, Shakespeare Dallas and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

“He just believed that all of our lives would be so much poorer without music, art and theater. He said in our country we have the freedom to support whatever we want and that we needed to support the arts so that they would continue to exist,” Stone said.

Stone, a businessman who lived in Turtle Creek, worked for Sanger Harris, which later became Macy’s. He was a 2018 TACA Silver Cup Award honoree for his arts and culture advocacy in North Texas.

Maura Sheffler, president and executive director of The Arts Community Alliance (TACA), said in a statement that Stone’s legacy will continue to inspire the local arts community.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Don Stone, a devoted champion of the arts whose leadership and generosity,” she wrote.

Stone’s wife of over 72 years, Norma, died in June. She was the one who first got her husband involved in the arts, according to their daughter Angela.

Michelle Miller Burns, the DSO’s president and CEO, said the Stones had a profound impact on the DSO.

“It is with such a heavy heart that I received news of Don Stone’s passing earlier this week. Don was a devoted patron, a donor and a board member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and his leadership and generosity really have helped shape the Dallas symphony across five decades,” she said.

In 1980, Stone served as DSO’s chairman of the Board of Governors and helped launch efforts to raise $80 million for Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center and secure architect I.M. Pei.

In 1997, the Stones launched the Norma and Don Stone New Music Fund and committed $1 million to continuously support new works. Some of the works supported through the fund include this year’s world premiere of Angélica Negrón’s requiem For Everything You Keep Losing. The fund also supported a Grammy award-winning violin concerto by Aaron Jay Kernis co-commissioned with the Seattle Symphony, Toronto Symphony and Melbourne Symphony.

“I think it is rare for a couple who so firmly believes in the future of classical music and creating opportunities for new musical voices to be heard to really put support behind that in a meaningful way to fuel that process, to ensure that it can come to fruition,” Burns said.

She said the DSO will continue the Stones’ legacy by commissioning new works through the Norma and Don Stone New Music Fund.

Stone is survived by his children Michael, Lisa and Angela, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. The family will have a private funeral.

Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.

This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The University of Texas at Dallas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.

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Dallas, TX

Daniss Jenkins sparks rally but Detroit Pistons fall in OT to Dallas

Published

1 day ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

Daniss Jenkins sparks rally but Detroit Pistons fall in OT to Dallas

DALLAS — A late comeback attempt fell short for the Detroit Pistons.

They fell to the Dallas Mavericks in overtime, 116-114, after recovering from a third-period 18-point deficit. A dunk by Anthony Davis gave the Mavericks the lead for good with 1:32 to play in overtime.

Cade Cunningham (29 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists) missed a short jumper with 7 seconds left that would’ve tied the game at 116, and Jalen Duren (17 points, 13 rebounds) couldn’t convert two offensive rebounds into a tip-in basket. Davis corralled the rebound with 0.9 seconds left, and the Mavericks called timeout.

The Pistons fouled Davis after the inbounds pass with a foul to give. Daniss Jenkins, who scored 11 points after halftime, stole the second inbounds pass with 0.6 seconds left but didn’t have enough time to get a shot off.

The Pistons trailed by 18 points with five minutes to play in the third quarter. Their bench unit was instrumental during a 31-11 run that gave the Pistons the lead again, 99-97, midway through the fourth quarter. They held Dallas to 38.5% shooting and forced nine turnovers in the second half.

No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg gave his Mavericks the lead, 110-109, with under 20 seconds to play with a midrange jumper. Isaiah Stewart was fouled by Davis on the other end with 3.4 seconds left, and he split the trip to the line to tie the game at 110. Klay Thompson missed a floater at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.

‘Dallas’ unit leads Detroit back from big deficit

Down 86-68 with 4:57 to play in the third quarter, coach J.B. Bickerstaff looked to the end of his bench for a spark. Jenkins, Marcus Sasser and Paul Reed checked into the game for the first time in consecutive order, joining Ron Holland and Javonte Green. The Pistons have a Dallas-centric roster — Holland, Sasser and Jenkins are all from the city, and Cunningham is from nearby Arlington.

They led an 11-3 run to cut the deficit to 10, tallying four steals during the stretch — two for Green and one each for Jenkins and Reed. Cunningham checked in for Green to open the fourth quarter, and the run continued. A 3-pointer from Jenkins, coast-to-coast layup by Holland and midrange jumper from Jenkins extended the run to 21-7, cutting the deficit to 93-89 with under 10 minutes to play.

As he has done several times this season, Jenkins rose to the moment in the final period. An entry pass from Jenkins to Holland created an open layup to slash Dallas’ lead to two, and Jenkins made a layup over three Mavericks defenders to tie the game at 95 with 7:46 remaining and push the Pistons’ run to 27-9.

With 59 seconds left in the fourth, a pair of free throws from Jenkins extended the Pistons’ lead to 3, 109-106. He played 11 minutes and 32 seconds in the final period, second only to Cunningham, and overtime.

Ausar Thompson ejected in second quarter

The Pistons lost Thompson — their primary defender on Flagg — midway through the second period after an exchange with an official.

With 5:09 remaining before halftime, Thompson tied up Mavericks guard Ryan Nembhard under the rim and was whistled for a foul. Thompson didn’t like the call and got in the ref’s face, and was instantly ejected. NBA rules make it an auto-ejection when a player makes physical contact with an official.

It was a strong start for Thompson prior to the ejection, as he had eight points, two assists, two rebounds and a steal in nine minutes of play. Stewart entered for him in the second quarter.

In all, it was a rough night for the Pistons regarding the officials. Cunningham was whistled for a tech late in the second quarter after disagreeing with a call, and Bickerstaff was whistled for a tech during halftime after arguing with an official.

Duncan Robinson exits with left knee injury

With 11:08 to play in the third quarter, Robinson suffered a knee-to-knee collision with Mavericks wing Naji Marshall. Robinson limped off of the floor and was initially ruled “questionable” to return until he was downgraded to “out” in the final period.

Robinson finished with two points and two rebounds, shooting 1-for-7 overall and 0-for-5 from 3. He missed two games in early December with a right ankle sprain.

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