Breaking Dallas News – Page 48 – The Other Side Dallas

July 29, 2021July 29, 2021

DISD Welcome Back 2021

DISD Welcome Back 2021 will happen Saturday, August 7, 2021 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center, located at 1201 E. Eighth Street at their We’re Ready Back to School Enrollment Fair.

Dallas Independent School District says it is ready for in-person instruction and to serve our families in a safe learning environment. Thousands of cases of COVID19 did hit staff and students across DISD last school year, including the Townview Magnet campus.

COVID19 numbers were manageable when school started in October 2020, but quickly shot up. Last year Dallas was considered a COVID19 medical hot zone and despite recent CDC guidance that all school staff and students should mask up regardless of vaccination status, Governor Abbott has denied localities the ability to mandate masks.

DISD Welcome Back 2021 Details

As DISD welcomes back staff and students, it is important to remember several standards that will be in place.

Currently, Dallas ISD will be back to in-person learning, districtwide, with the exception of hybird learners at the Dallas Hybrid Preparatory at Stephen J. Hay.

Additionally, the ISD will keep the nine-week grading periods this school year 2021-2022, the same as last. It is not clear if this will promote better learning or not.

Finally, there are three different school calendars which are campus specific. The base calendar is below.

Dallas ISD Calendar - DISD Welcome Back 2021

There are three different Dallas ISD 2021-2022 school year calendars.

A large majority of school campuses will have the base calendar. Forty-one schools will have an Intersession calendar, and five schools will have a School Day Redesign Calendar.

The alternative calendars are one part of a comprehensive effort the district is taking to help ensure the pandemic doesn’t have a long-lasting negative impact on student learning.

July 28, 2021July 28, 2021

K-12 CDC Mask Recommendation Ignored By Greg Abbott

The recent K-12 CDC Mask recommendation is being ignored by Governor Greg Abbott per statements reinforcing his May Executive Order.

The CDC has recommended everyone in the K-12 setting wear a mask indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Children under 12 are not yet eligible for FDA authorized vaccinations.

When asked by a KXAN reporter about whether Texas would be allowed to enforce mask wearing his press secretary responded: “the time for government mandating of masks is over…”

The spokesperson goes on, “vaccines are the most effective defense against contracting COVID and becoming seriously ill, and we continue to urge all eligible Texans to get the vaccine. The COVID vaccine will always remain voluntary and never forced in Texas.”

K-12 CDC Mask Recommendation or Donald Trump?

It is not clear if the current course of action is due to the election calendar.

Governor Abbott is in a fierce primary contest for the Republican nomination for Governor. One of his opponents, Don Huffines, has already hit out at Abbott over the rolling blackouts and freezeout earlier in the year.

Abbott has soought the support of former President Donald Trump – despite a clear move away from Trump in many suburbs, including Dallas – over the infiltration of the Republican Party by QAnon.

July 27, 2021July 27, 2021

Dallas Love Field Security Breach

There was a Dallas Love Field security breach Sunday night causing Transportation Security Administration (TSA) guards and Dallas Police to apprehend a man for criminal trespass.

Per eyewitnesses and social media accounts, Dallas Love Field airport was “on lockdown” after an individual ran through a TSA checkpoint.

Dallas Love Field Airport confirmed that an individual did breach the TSA checkpoint. It led to a brief halt of passenger screening, but “there was no impact to flight operations.”

Dallas Love Field Security Breach Adds To Unruly Passenger Wave

According to FAA data, there have been more than 3500 unruly passenger incidents in 2021 as of July 20, 2021.

Passengers at Dallas Love Field posted to Twitter said that the waits were far longer than the fifteen minutes the airport claimed.

This is the second incident at Love Field in just over a week. The first was the arrival of a passenger from Nigeria with monkeypox – a rare condition similar to smallpox.

July 23, 2021July 24, 2021

Laura Jordan Convicted

Former Richardson Mayor Laura Jordan, and her developer husband Mark Jordan, were found guilty Friday, July 23 of bribery and tax evasion.

Prosecutors said the former mayor accepted cash, vacations, and home renovations from Jordan and had sex with him in exchange for her votes to change the city’s zoning on land fronting Central Expressway. She also voted to approve hundreds of apartments that Jordan wanted to build there.

Early in the trial, prosecutors told jurors that the Jordans “corruptly convinced the city of Richardson to approve a multi-million dollar real estate deal.” Prosecutors also said that they “used their adulterous affair and subsequent marriage to cover up corruption and get away with this.”

But the Jordans’ attorneys told the jury that the former mayor voted for the project because it was in the best interest of the city, and that a majority of council members approved the project too.

The conviction comes just weeks after the conviction of Ruel Hamilton on similar charges.

Laura Jordan

Laura Jordan was the Mayor of Richardson, Texas from 2013 to 2015. She had previously become the first woman elected to the post of Mayor Pro Tem in the City’s 57-year history as a home rule city.

Laura Jordan, then Laura Maczka, was initially elected to the Richardson City Council, Place 4 in May 2011, defeating Karl Voigtsberger by 74.97% to 25.03%. She is believed to be only the 6th woman elected to the city council in the last forty years.

In 2013, Maczka was elected mayor in the first direct election of the mayor since the city became a home rule city in 1956.

July 22, 2021July 24, 2021

Candida Auris In Dallas

Candida Auris (C. auris) is in Dallas per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today. They have evidence that the untreatable fungus is spreading at two Dallas-area hospitals and a Washington, D.C, nursing home.

Several patients have been diagnozed with the invasive fungal infections. The infection is impervious to all three major classes of medications, according to the CDC.

“This is really the first time we’ve started seeing clustering of resistance” in which patients seemed to be getting the infections from each other, said the CDC’s Dr. Meghan Lyman.

The new infections come as Dallas is still responding to the COVID19 pandemic and the recent diagnosis of monkeypox in Dallas.

The fungus, Candida auris, is a harmful form of yeast. It is dangerous to hospital and nursing home patients with serious medical problems.

It is most deadly when it enters the bloodstream, heart, or brain.

Health officials have sounded alarms for years about superbugs like Candida auris. In particular, they have found commonly used drugs having little to no effect.

In those cases, there was no evidence the infections had spread from patient to patient – scientists concluded the resistance to the drugs formed during treatment.

The new cases did spread, the CDC concluded.

In Washington, D.C., a cluster of 101 C. auris cases at a nursing home dedicated to very sick patients included three that were resistant to all three kinds of antifungal medications. A cluster of 22 in two Dallas-area hospitals included two with that level of resistance. The facilities weren’t identified, but the cases occured between January and April.

Lyman said both are ongoing outbreaks and that additional infections have been identified since April. But those added numbers were not reported.

Investigators reviewed medical records and found no evidence of previous antifungal use among the patients in those clusters. Health officials say that means they spread from person to person.

Candida auris Background

Per the CDC, Candida auris is an emerging fungus that can cause outbreaks of severe infections in healthcare facilities.

In the United States, it has most commonly spread in long-term care facilities caring for people with severe medical conditions.

However, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, outbreaks of C. auris have been reported in COVID-19 units of acute care hospitals. These outbreaks may be related to changes in routine infection control practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, including limited availability of gloves and gowns, or reuse of these items, and changes in cleaning and disinfection practices.

New C. auris cases without links to known cases or healthcare abroad have been identified recently in multiple states, suggesting an increase in undetected transmission. Screening for C. auris colonization, an important part of containment efforts, has been more limited as resources of healthcare facilities and health departments have been diverted to respond to COVID-19.

July 20, 2021July 21, 2021

Pox Panic

A pox panic is taking place across the United States as more than two hundred contacts occurred between the Dallas monkeypox case last week and those who came within six feet of the initial patient.

In addition to its recent focus on COVID19, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring two hundred cases across twenty-seven states. The Texas individual who contracted the disease in Nigeria before traveling to Dallas by way of Atlanta on July 8 – 9, 2021.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that so far, no additional cases of the disease have been detected among those being monitored, but there is the possibility contact cases have happened unknown to CDC investigators.

State and local health officials are working with the CDC to follow up with known contacts of the Dallas infected patient, Patient Zero.

Pox Panic Started Friday

The case of monkeypox is the first confirmed case of the disease in the United States in two decades.

Monkeypox is a rare, infectious disease that can cause widespread rashes, fever, headaches, and muscle aches in people who contract it.

Other signs and symptoms include:

Fever
Headache
Muscle aches
Backache
Swollen lymph nodes
Chills
Exhaustion

According to WHO, the monkeypox virus has similar features to the more dangerous human smallpox. The primary difference between in symptoms between smallpox and monkeypox is monkeypox will cause lymph nodes to swell (lymphadenopathy). Smallpox does not have cause lymphadenopathy.

There are two types of monkeypox viruses – the more contagious and harsher version from Central Africa and the other from West Africa.

July 17, 2021July 17, 2021

Dallas Monkeypox Case

A Dallas monkeypox case was reported by Dallas County Health and Human Services, but their spokesman says the confirmation of monkeypox infection in the city is “rare,” but “not a reason for alarm.”

DCHHS confirmed the infection in a person who traveled from Nigeria to Dallas and arrived at Love Field on July 9th. Health officials said Friday the person is currently isolated at a Dallas hospital, believed to be the Parkland Hospital Infectious Disease unit, to prevent the spread of the virus and is said to be in stable condition.

The case is the first known case of monkeypox in a Dallas resident. Dallas has been a Hot Zone for COVID19 and other infectious diseases because of its multiple international airports.

Dallas Monkeypox Background

The first human cases of monkeypox were recorded in 1970 in Africa, specifically the Democratic Republic of Congo.

At the time there was an intensified effort to eliminate smallpox.

Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in colonies of monkeys kept for research, hence the name ‘monkeypox.’

In humans, the symptoms of monkeypox are similar to but milder than the symptoms associated with smallpox.

Monkeypox begins with fever, headache, muscle aches, and exhaustion.

The primary difference between in symptoms between smallpox and monkeypox is monkeypox will cause lymph nodes to swell (lymphadenopathy). Smallpox does not have cause lymphadenopathy.

The incubation period (time from infection to symptoms) for monkeypox is usually 7−14 days but can range from 5−21 days. The illness begins with:

Fever
Headache
Muscle aches
Backache
Swollen lymph nodes
Chills
Exhaustion

July 16, 2021July 17, 2021

US News: Dallas Down To 37

Dallas Down To 37 in Best Cities To Live per US News and World Report, falling out of the Top 25.

The US News reports says “the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area has an interesting mix of Texas pride and cosmopolitan offerings,” but dropping out of the Top 25 Best Cities must hurt that pride more than a little.

It is not clear how much city council and city hall dysfunction played into the rankings.

Dallas Down To 37 As City…And Texas Is In Wrong Top 10

According to a study conducted by CNBC, the “Great State of Texas” isn’t. Per their study Texas is second on the list of America’s worst places to live in 2021.

The study found that Texas’ weaknesses include inclusiveness, health, voting rights, and public health funding.

CNBC’s review said, “For all its strength as a place to do business, Texas keeps trying to outdo itself when it comes to laws and policies that are seen as exclusionary.”

The city itself isn’t the only thing falling. Locally, schools have been dropping from previous number one national positions.

July 13, 2021March 22, 2022

Texas Rangers RBI For Underserved Or Prep Select?

Is the Texas Rangers RBI program for the underserved or just another prep select program is a question some are asking.

This weekend during All Star play at the West Dallas complex one team mate seemed to have a leg up as his mother is the Vice President for the Texas Rangers Foundation and a local select baseball player.

The Returning Baseball to Inner (RBI) Cities program is supposed to help increase minority participation in baseball, but it appears it is being used to defray costs for wealthy families connected to the team.

Jackson Morris is playing for the Texas Cannons baseball club in addition to his time with the Texas Rangers RBI program which provides him free equipment.

It is unclear if this counts against IRS rules for public charities to provide personal benefits, but neither the Texas Rangers nor the Texas Rangers Foundation would return phone calls requesting comment about the program.

Texas Rangers RBI Program

The program itself has not had much success getting out of the RBI playoffs and some blame the program’s director Juan Garciga for building a group of coaches who can neither teach well or push their players beyond natural talent.

The program was also hit recently by allegations one of their coaches was being investigated for masturbating to a young girl.

July 10, 2021July 11, 2021

CPAC Day One – No Surprises

The Conservative Political Action Conference – CPAC – had no surprises just one day after a local reporter said QAnon was alive and well in Texas. They lived up to their reputation of bringing out conspiracy theorists, grifters, and the far right.

The Dallas conference comes just a little over one month after Michael Flynn, Trump’s fired National Security Advisor, called for a Myannmar style coup in the United States.

So far this Dallas Convention Center conference has not mentioned another coup attempt on the United States, but there has been plenty of red meat for a conservative base that suffered a loss to Joe Biden and had numerous down ballot problems too in the city CPAC is being held. Trumpian tactics did not work locally in 2021 city council races, but some candidates appear to be ready to try them again.

In one session, Rep. Madison Cawthorn said President Joe Biden was trying to distribute COVID19 vaccines door to door so that he could steal Bibles and guns.

CPAC Doesn’t Surprise – But Perhaps Donald Trump Jr. Does

The CPAC event itself may not have been a surprise, but one shock came whent he former president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., came on stage and said Texas was only a “top 25” conservative state.

His attack on the state’s conservative credibility seemed aimed at Austin, but it was not clear if his comments were pointed at their city council or Governor Greg Abbott. Already Abbott has two rivals for the party nomination including former state senator Don Huffines who spoke at the conservative conference also.

In June, Huffines came out attacking Abbott for his lack of executive ability over the power grid – a major issue for suburban voters in Dallas and other cities.

Trump Jr’s appearance also fueled rumors that he was abusing illegal or prescription drugs in what appears to be a drug fueled mania while he took shots at Hunter Biden.

“I totally understand addiction. It’s terrible. We all know people that have suffered from it. It doesn’t absolve you from being a total piece of garbage in every other aspect of your life,” said Donald Trump Jr.

Former President Donald will be in Dallas on Sunday, July 11, 2021 to close out the conservative conference.