OXNARD, Calif. — The Cowboys will sign defensive end Carl Lawson, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Dallas Morning News on Thursday.

Lawson’s arrival is the latest move for a defensive line that has gone through a series of changes.

Defensive end Sam Williams’ season-ending knee injury on July 28 prompted the Cowboys to find a replacement. Initially, second-round pick Marshawn Kneeland was cast as the projected starter opposite DeMarcus Lawrence.

The Cowboys also worked out three players (Shaka Toney, Al-Quadin Muhammad and Lawson) following Williams’ injury. The team signed Toney and Muhammad in early August and each played in the preseason opener against the Los Angeles Rams.

But Toney suffered an injury and was waived/injured by the team Wednesday. That move allowed the club to sign center/guard Cohl Cabral because the offensive line needed increased depth because of health issues.

“Marshawn’s done a nice job,” coach Mike McCarthy said before Wednesday’s practice when asked about the defensive ends. “I think, clearly, the amount of reps he received in the game is also tied to his work last week in the Rams [joint] practice. I think we got some new guys we’re still breaking in. Chauncy [Golston] has gone out there and played some end and I like what he did. He had some really good plays in the [preseason] game. The biggest thing, not only the individual, but getting the techniques, getting that part right, making sure we’re getting everything fitted together, the fundamentals, techniques and the calls.”

Defensive end isn’t the only position the Cowboys seek to upgrade.

Defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer said he wanted to find another nose tackle for depth behind second-year player Mazi Smith.

After a difficult rookie season, a scheme change was thought to benefit Smith in his second season. He pushed back on that slightly after Wednesday’s joint practice with the Rams.

“Yeah, it ain’t the scheme,” he said. “It’s more about time and warming up to people and getting with the program and everybody getting on the same page and becoming part of the team.”

The Cowboys acquired defensive tackle Jordan Phillips in a trade with the New York Giants on Wednesday for conditional late-round 2026 draft picks.

There is familiarity with Lawson within the Cowboys’ coaching staff. Paul Guenther, the Cowboys defensive run game coordinator, was the Bengals defensive coordinator in 2017 when Lawson was drafted in the fourth round.

In six NFL seasons, Lawson has 27 sacks. Two years ago, he signed a three-year, $45 million deal with the New York Jets. In 23 games, Lawson had seven sacks before he was let go.

The Cowboys will make a roster move to clear the way for Lawson.

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

For shame, Texas

Re: “Prisons Must Stop Sweltering Cruelty — Texas inmates are being ‘cooked to death’ without air-conditioning,” Monday editorial.

I correspond with 13 women in Texas prisons, including my own family member, who has lived in four of the female units. Eight of those 13 do not have air-conditioning, and winters are also brutal on those units. They live in cinder-block buildings or metal industrial buildings with metal roofs and no insulation.

They were sentenced to be confined, not to be tortured. The cruelty our governor, lieutenant governor and state senators are allowing by refusing to use surplus budget money to provide relief and basic humane treatment of fellow human beings is beyond comprehension.

Most of these state leaders claim to be Christians. I have written them directly, repeatedly, respectfully, on this issue and never receive so much as a form letter in return.

God sees, hears, knows and remembers (Exodus 2:24). The ultimate reckoning will not be kind to those who “close their hearts to pity” (Psalm 17:10).

In the meantime, advocates for humane treatment of Texas prisoners will continue to call for basic standards of climate control for human beings. As for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s claims about heat mitigation, they are true only on paper. There are so many failures in carrying out even those pitiful efforts. For shame, Texas!

Becky Haigler, East Dallas

Prisoners are people

Regardless of their crimes, prisoners are people — people with a right to life and a constitutionally guaranteed right to not be treated cruelly. I have never been incarcerated, but I have experienced homelessness. I know something about dealing with a Texas summer without air-conditioning. Not surprisingly, it’s excruciating.

Forcing anyone to endure these conditions and suffer from heat-related illnesses more than exceeds the definition of cruelty. If we are morally and constitutionally proscribed from treating people this way, how can we justify the cost of fighting a lawsuit that by right should be won by the plaintiff? How can we justify the cost of treating those who suffer? How can we justify undermining the humanity of our brothers and sisters?

Eric Wallace, Dallas

Expired license is an ID

Re: “Voting and license logjam,” by James Elliott, Sunday Letters.

In his letter, Elliott wrote about a family member whose license had expired. He and the family member are inconvenienced by the backlog of available appointments to renew the driver’s license.

However, the expired license is still an acceptable form of ID for voting in November. Per the office of the Texas Secretary of State, a license expired no more than four years is acceptable.

Mr. Elliott, please encourage your family member to take her expired license to the polls and exercise her constitutional right to vote!

Karen Cannon, Arlington

Voter ID myths and truths

I am concerned that people are hearing rumors about voting problems and deciding not to vote due to them. A few examples are: Myth: You cannot vote with an expired license. Truth: You can if you are under 70 and it expired less than four years ago. Over 70, the expiration date does not apply.

Myth: You cannot vote without a driver’s license. Truth: There are seven forms of photo ID plus many alternate IDs that are acceptable for voting. Check this website, votetexas.gov/voting/need-id.html.

Myth: Food and drink cannot be offered to people in line to vote. Truth: This is true only if it is done on a partisan basis. If offered in a nonpartisan way and without electioneering, it’s totally acceptable in Texas.

Check the website above for the rules and don’t believe what you hear about barriers to voting. Turn out and vote your conscience.

Marcia Grau, Richardson

Vocal crowd seeks alley pickup

The Dallas Department of Sanitation Services and District 9 council member Paula Blackmon must have been shocked Monday when they held a community meeting on the department’s proposal to move sanitation pickup from alleyways to curbsides. A standing-room-only crowd of all ages swarmed into the Ridgewood Belcher Recreation Center’s large meeting room.

The attendees overwhelmingly voiced their opposition to department director Clifton Gillespie’s plan to phase out alleyway trash collection, which accounts for 38% of all garbage pickup in the city.

So many people showed up to voice their feelings, some had to park on distant surrounding streets and lean up against the meeting room walls. Only one microphone was used — had the leaders never run a community meeting before?

Four or five uniformed police officers watched over the crowd, even rushing to “escort” out a too-vocal resident at one point.

Gillespie heard a number of thoughtful suggestions from the attendees, from privatizing existing alleyway trash collection to using more modern, more maneuverable, automated side-loading mini-trucks for pickup in narrow alleys. Whether he truly listens to them remains to be seen.

Glenn Hunter, East Dallas

‘Praise every morning’

Re: “Don’t overlook morning’s promise — Early hours bring moments of hope, beauty and clarity,” by Christopher de Vinck, Saturday Opinion

De Vinck’s column is a lovely paean to a daily reflection that thanks and humility are such life-giving virtues, “recognizing all over again that we are on a long, joyful adventure.”

In no way does he suggest a competition with the Benedictine monks in Vermont. But he does reveal that “the monks greet each day with song and prayer, and they are filled with gratitude to God. I try to greet each day with words, poetry and with a sense for it all.”

Here he puts one in mind of “Morning Has Broken,” a haunting song that shares his own sense of new beginnings each day, but does affirm what is most important: “Praise with elation, praise every morning, God’s re-creation of the new day.”

Tom Jodziewicz, Irving

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

An all-girls Dallas middle school will add high school grades with the help of a $2 million gift.

This year, the Young Women’s STEAM Academy in Balch Springs added the ninth grade. The Texas Instruments Foundation grant will help the academy add a new grade per year through the 12th grade by the 2027-28 school year, when it will have the first graduating class.

“It’s not an expense. It’s an investment in you,” Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde told academy students when the gift was announced Wednesday morning.

The academy, which opened in 2016, has about 760 students.

It now joins the Young Women’s Preparatory Network that partners with districts for all-girls schools. DISD also has the Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School, which serves sixth through 12th graders and is part of the network.

“It’s never been about achievement gaps in our schools. It’s always been about opportunity gaps,” Elizalde said. “What the Young Women’s Preparatory Network does for you, for us, is provide those opportunities.”

The network also has schools in Fort Worth, Austin, Houston and other Texas cities, serving more than 5,000 students.

“Over the last 20 years, 100% of our girls have graduated from high school, and 100% have been accepted to college,” said Lynn McBee, the network’s CEO. “Our girls get through college and graduate from college at about 69%, which is double the national average of girls who come from backgrounds that are underserved.”

Research shows many benefits for girls who attend school in all-girls classrooms, McBee said. Instead of taking notes, they lead meetings, she added.

“They become leaders,” she said. “They raise their hands. They answer questions. They’re not shy.”

Only about 25% of STEM jobs, or those based in science, technology, engineering or math, are filled by women, said Andy Smith, Executive Director of the Texas Instruments Foundation.

“We know that there’s a STEM confidence gap in girls versus boys. And girls, historically, have a higher level of math anxiety than boys,” Smith said.

One way to close that gap is by “ensuring that girls have every opportunity to explore their interests and gain that confidence, including in a supportive, all-girls environment,” he said.

The grant allows the school to expand while focusing on recruitment and training of science teachers, Smith said. It will also fund important resources that help students prepare for college.

Most of the school’s students will be the first in their families to attend college, academy principal Rubinna Sanchez said. A first-generation college student herself, Sanchez said that kind of support is something she didn’t have but would have made her journey “a lot smoother.”

“We’re going to be able to have a college success advisor, specifically for our girls, to guide them, to find the best scholarships, the best colleges that fit them,” Sanchez said.

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.