Dallas will remove its rainbow, Black Lives Matter and other decorative crosswalks within 90 days and consider replacing them with some other form of public art, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert announced Friday.

In a memo to the City Council, Tolbert confirmed the city submitted a plan to the Texas Department of Transportation earlier in the day that would put Dallas in compliance with state standards for the road markings.

“While the City maintains that existing crosswalk designs do not present measurable public safety issues, we appreciate TxDOT’s partnership in sustaining safe and efficient multimodal transportation within Dallas,” she wrote.

The decision comes ahead of a Saturday deadline set by TxDOT, which had rejected the city’s request to keep 30 decorative crosswalks.

TxDOT had required a signed and sealed certification from a traffic engineer confirming the road markings complied with state standards, a document Tolbert has previously told the agency that the city couldn’t provide.

The deadline comes after a monthslong dispute over the crosswalks, which TxDOT says violate state standards requiring plain white markings.

Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the removal of decorative crosswalks around the state in October, calling markings like rainbow crosswalks “distractions” that promote political messages. Advocates argue they represent neighborhood pride, not safety hazards.

Cities refusing to comply risk losing state or federal transportation funding among other possible consequences, state transportation agency officials said.

“I wish our governor would spend time on things that actually moves the needle for our state instead of picking on vulnerable populations and low hanging fruit for political gain,” Dallas City Council member Adam Bazaldua told The Dallas Morning News late Friday. His district in South Dallas has 16 Black Lives Matter crosswalks.

“This just means we have to get creative,” he added.

Council member Paul Ridley, whose district includes rainbow and other artistic crosswalks, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday, but told The News earlier in the day he believed the city would submit a plan to the state by the end of the business day.

Ridley previously praised city officials for appealing to try to keep the crosswalks.

Gus Khankarli, the city’s transportation and public works director, didn’t respond to requests for comment Friday.

Along with the South Dallas crosswalks, the installations in Dallas include 10 rainbow crosswalks in Oak Lawn and four individualized art crosswalks in Uptown.

Tolbert said in her memo that city officials plan to reach out to community leaders to “explore creative approaches that reflect neighborhood identity and character through community art initiatives.”

Crosswalks changes

REMOVAL: Dallas will remove the rainbow, Black Lives Matter and other decorative crosswalks within 90 days to comply with a Texas directive.

STATE PRESSURE: The move comes after state transportation officials rejected the city’s appeal, with funding at risk if Dallas failed to comply.

WHAT’S NEXT: City officials say they will explore other forms of public art to reflect neighborhood identity once the markings are removed.

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Survivor fans are flooding South Florida, and the center of the action is Jungle Island, where the new Survivor Ultimate Café offers challenges, themed food and official merchandise.

Sophi Balerdi, a contestant from Season 49, said seeing the recreated challenges is surreal because they’re pulled straight from the show.

“There’s challenges that I actually did in Fiji,” Balerdi said. “This is the exact challenge that I won back in season 49, and it’s just so cool to see it all.”

A full Survivor‑style experience

The café is designed to immerse visitors in the Survivor world. The menu goes beyond basic survival food and leans into the show’s reward challenges, giving fans a literal taste of what contestants eat in Fiji. For many, it’s also a chance to test themselves under pressure.

“You’re under pressure for a million dollars, you’re competing against other people, and when your life is on the line in the game, it’s scary to do these challenges,” Balerdi said.

Just steps away, another Survivor‑style event drew crowds: a hidden immunity idol hunt offering a chance to win a spot at the live finale in Los Angeles.

Francois said hundreds of people had about an hour left to search as fans from across Florida followed clues through the park.

“That jungle… in the city named for an ocean is where I am,” Francois said. “And it’s where hundreds are channeling their inner Survivor.”

Fans travel hours for a chance to win

Among the first in line were fans who drove from the Jacksonville area, calling the trip a gamble they hoped would pay off.

“This whole trip is to make my wife happy, so everybody else can go home,” Brandon Hudspatch said.

His wife, Rebecca Hudspatch, said they recognized the location from the show.

“You drove down just for this,” she said. “How’d you know to be here though? I think it was on last season?”

And while the object of the search is an idol, fans aren’t chasing immunity — they’re chasing a prize: a trip to the live finale taping in Los Angeles.

“Even if you’re not a Survivor fan, who doesn’t like solving riddles and driving six hours to find an idol?” Bridget Powell said.

Jane and Peter Simpson said they’ve been all‑in since the beginning. “I’ve seen this from Day One.”

Former contestants meet fans

The Survivor Café experience also includes meet‑and‑greets with former contestants, including Dee Valladares, who won Survivor 45 and is set to appear in the upcoming Survivor 50 season. Valladares said watching Survivor is one thing, but living it is something else entirely.

“You’re going to war with your mind,” she said. “For me, that was very hard. You’re stepping outside from the gameplay itself, shivering and thinking to yourself, when is this going to end and it never does.”

Survivor veteran Troy “Troyzan” Robertson echoed that reality.

“It’s one thing to watch it and one thing to play. This doesn’t seem like the same thing,” he said.

Fans visiting the café will also find official merchandise, including Survivor bandanas and shirts. The Survivor Café officially opens tomorrow, and reservations are available online.

A town south of Atlanta advised its residents on Friday not to drink their tap water after a fuel spill at Atlanta’s airport may have contaminated the Flint River.

The city of Griffin, whose water system serves more than 20,000 customers, said water might not be safe to drink even if it was boiled and asked people to use bottled water instead for drinking, cooking or brushing teeth.

Alnissa Ruiz-Craig, a spokesperson for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, said the fuel spill happened Friday morning and that cleanup was underway.

She couldn’t say how much fuel escaped or why.

Griffin officials said they shut down water intakes from the Flint as a precaution, even though they didn’t believe the contaminated water reached the city.

The Flint originates near the airport, with much of its headwaters hidden in pipes flowing under the sprawling airfield, before flowing southwest and becoming one of Georgia’s major rivers on the way to merging into the Apalachicola River in Florida.

Jet fuel and sewage spills from the airport have repeatedly contaminated the Flint headwaters.

Griffin officials said they are now using drinking water from an unaffected reservoir in nearby Pike County and opened fire hydrants to flush the water system.

The city is testing its water to determine whether it’s safe.