1 Dallas Public Library Bridgerton Ball — Women in glittering tiaras wearing empire-waist gowns and men in Regency-era jackets and top hats recently took to the dance floor for the Bridgerton Ball at a venue some might find surprising: the Dallas Public Library’s J. Erik Jonsson Central Library.
However, this pop-up ballroom at the downtown library was a fitting location for the Netflix show based on a series of novels and centered around Lady Whistledown’s society paper addressed to her “dearest readers.” Libraries are innovating more than ever to stay relevant in our changing times. Importantly, they strive to remain places that are welcoming community spaces.
Bridgerton Ball’s invitation to “the glittering world of high society” drew about 1,400 people. Admission was free and the event included English country dance lessons, lectures on Regency fashion, a theatrical performance and elaborate photo backdrops carefully constructed for Instagram success.
One young woman told me she often came to the library as a child. Her husband said he took her to the event to celebrate her birthday. Others mentioned seeing the event promoted on TikTok. A friend commented that fashion lectures such as the one at the ball usually cost around $60.
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Thanks go to library staffers, including organizer and librarian Emily Goodwin, for their hard work on the ball.
The library’s vital role as a community center — demonstrated by the success of this event and other programming — is all the more reason to support the Dallas Public Library’s strategic plan, which calls for a major renovation of the Central Library to keep the facility the vibrant heart of the city’s library network.
I recommend that you check the programming calendar for your local libraries online. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
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Katherine Leal Unmuth, Dallas
Member (District 2), Dallas Municipal Library Board
2 Dallas contractor — Here’s a compliment on an infrastructure job by a Dallas contractor. The reconstruction of Live Oak Street from Fitzhugh Avenue to just past Skiles Street was completed quickly and looks great.
Yeah, the lane switches during construction were a little crazy, but overall the job was done in what seemed like record time. I don’t know who the contractor was, but I hope the city hires them for more projects. Well done.
Margaret Rogers, Dallas/Bryan Place
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3 DMN customer care — I sent a question to Public Editor Stephen Buckley about the process covering local elections and the paper’s recommendations. I immediately received an electronic email telling me my question was received and I would hear back, the normal response with an electronic receipt to an organization.
What I didn’t expect was the level of detail that followed with additional information and specific links that were available to me while I waited for a response.
I didn’t have a chance to explore any of those links, because before I could, I had a very thoughtful and complete answer from Rudy Bush, editorial page editor. It was not just empty words, but a response that took time to compose.
I thought my request was complete until I heard from Eva-Marie Ayala, Education Lab editor, with another thoughtful and complete response. My question was more of a political one, yet her response was also detailed.
Three cheers for the new program and the well-thought-out response process. Even as busy as everyone at The Dallas Morning News probably is these days, three cheers for their customer care in answering my query completely and promptly.
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Perri Brackett, Lewisville
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
Some Dallas-Fort Worth grocery stores are closed or dealing with complications from Friday morning’s global internet outage.
What we know about how the global tech outage is impacting North Texas
Most notably in North Texas, several Brookshire Grocery Co. stores have been temporarily closed because of the outage — though a company spokesperson did not disclose which and how many locations were affected.
Brookshires has 25 stores in the North Texas area, according to the brand’s media relations, and more than 210 stores across four states. The store’s North Texas locations mostly sit outside urban areas in places like Forney and Red Oak, among others.
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“Our IT team is quickly working to resolve the technical issues at the impacted stores,” a Brookshire spokesperson said in a statement. “We are hopeful that all stores will reopen soon, once the issues have been resolved. Our team has already been able to resolve several stores’ connections this morning so far.”
A spokesperson with Albertsons, which also owns the Tom Thumb chain, said that “our stores have not had a significant impact” on selling groceries.
CrowdStrike outage mostly resolved, but D-FW airports expect delays and cancellations
“There are some minor issues behind the scenes,” the Albertsons spokesperson said, but none that would impact customers.
H-E-B is not impacted by the outage and all of the brand’s stores are open, according to media relations.
DALLAS — University of Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman understands another 4-8 record won’t cut it in 2024, and he’s not shy talking about his status entering the season.
“I’m popular now, the wrong way,” Pittman said in the electronic media room on Thursday at SEC media days. “I’d say I’m hot. I’m at the top of those [hot seat] lists. … What’s fair is fair.”
This comes after Pittman led the Razorbacks from a 3-7 mark in 2020 at the tail end of a 20-game SEC losing streak to a 9-4 finish and four trophy game wins in 2021.
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“If you’re going to get patted on the back, you’re going to get punched in the gut,” Pittman added.
Arkansas receiver Andrew Armstrong said players don’t pay attention to “hot seat” lists, but a tidy solution exists for the Hogs to turn down the heat on their head coach.
“At the end of the day, this is Arkansas football, and we’re trying to go win not only for ourselves, but for our fans, the state,” Armstrong said. “I know they’re waiting for a great season. So we’re not too much focused on the ‘hot seat’ thing. If the team is focused on winning, there is no hot seat for him. We go out there and win, those talks won’t happen.”
The Razorbacks are not likely to be chosen among the contenders in the SEC when the media’s projected order of finish is released on Friday. In fact, Arkansas will probably rank in the lowest tier of teams along with Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and South Carolina.
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Pittman sounded fired up about wanting to discard the remnants of the 4-8 season.
“If we can take 4-20 to 9-4, we can deal with 4-8 too, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Pittman said, referencing the Razorbacks’ record in 2018-19 immediately before he was hired. “I’m very excited about the Arkansas Razorbacks.”
End Landon Jackson, a returning defensive captain, said the players won’t worry about media expectations.
“Whatever the media thinks about our team doesn’t really matter because we’re a whole new team,” Jackson said. “College football is a different game now.”
Quarterback Taylen Green, who Pittman said was “hand picked” by offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino, compared his recruitment to where the media might pick the Razorbacks.
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“We’ll just use it as motivation,” Green said. “You know growing up and being recruited, I wasn’t really highly recruited. So just proving the doubters wrong and proving ourselves right is something that we like. We like being the underdog and just proving ourselves.
Jackson pointed out how the NCAA transfer portal can change the identity of a team quickly, and he thinks that could apply to the 2024 Razorbacks.
“Taylen, for example, wasn’t here last year,” Jackson said. “Nobody knows for sure how he’s going to be for our team, but I think he’ll be phenomenal. Another guy, JJ [JaQuinden Jackson] at running back, I feel like he’ll be great for our team. We’ve got so many transfers in that we’re not the same team. Not even the same coaching staff.”
It will be incumbent on the Razorbacks to have a better record in one-score games, where they went 1-5 last season and 3-3 the year before.
“Those games can change a season all the way around,” Armstrong said. “We lost a lot of close games, and if I’m not mistaken Missouri went 5-0 [actually 4-0] in close games last year.
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“You can see how they went the distance in their season. So I feel like those close games really are a major focal point in having a winning season or a losing season.”
Pittman said closing out tight games has been a point of emphasis in the team’s preparations all offseason.
“We have to figure out how to finish, win the close games,” he said. “We have got figure that out. We feel like we’re well on our way to getting that accomplished.
“I think a lot of that has to do with how we approach play calling, how aggressive we are on defense. … Whether you can run the football or not.
“Last year, we didn’t do a whole lot well on offense. It was a little bit more of a grab bag. What are we doing well right this moment instead of staying with it or what we thought the game plan would be because it wasn’t working. I think a lot of it had to do with the offensive line and the running backs, which I think we’ve shored up those two spots.”
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Jackson said contributing on a successful team is a key reason why he returned for his senior year.
“My first year at LSU, we had a mediocre record,” he said. “Then, first year at Arkansas we were 6-6 before going to the Liberty Bowl. Then last year was a bad season.
“I really want to finish my college career with a bang. … Since I was a kid, my main goal was to play in the SEC and not just play in it, but dominate the SEC.
“That was my goal as a kid before any thoughts of the NFL. Now my goal obviously is to go to the NFL, but I’ve got to complete my initial goal. I really wanted to come back and have a dominating season as a team, not just as an individual player, and really get those wins.”
The Razorbacks will not play perennial power Alabama, which has won 17 consecutive games in the series, but they have added new SEC member Texas.
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Arkansas will not wear the mantle of having the toughest schedule in the nation as it has claimed many times in the last couple of decades, but it’s still a rugged slate.
“We have seven top 25 teams on the schedule, so it’s probably a lot better year than it’s normally been,” Pittman said. “Nah, you know Andrew [Armstrong] said it on the plane on the way over, he said, ‘Hell, coach, they’ve got to play us too.’
“So we do have a good schedule. It gives us more opportunities, and it gives us more opportunities to make a splash. And any time you play top 25 team and you win, it’s a splash and it’s a hit and so it gives us a lot of opportunities and that’s how we’re looking at it.”
Returning defensive captain Landon Jackson said the Arkansas players aren’t worried about the media’s expectations from the 2024 Razorbacks. “Whatever the media thinks about our team doesn’t really matter because we’re a whole new team,” Jackson said. (AP/LM Otero)
