Category: Breaking Dallas News

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn on Thursday visited Dallas to discuss his proposed legislation that would aid in preventing online child abuse.

The Protect Safe Childhood Act provides approximately $60 million a year to modernize technology used for online abuse investigations, improve coordination of law enforcement across jurisdictions and educate the public. The bill would reauthorize an existing program, started in 2006, through 2028.

The Protect Safe Childhood Act was passed through the Senate in October and is awaiting consideration in the House. Cornyn said he is optimistic the bill will get over the finish line because of the nonpartisan nature of the issue.

Cornyn was joined Thursday by local and national advocates, local law enforcement and survivors of child abuse. Speakers discussed the role they play in combating these crimes and how this legislation would be beneficial.

John Shehan of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children discussed his organization’s work managing a child cybercrimes tip line, and a Dallas police employee said the department received and investigated about 26,000 tips from the organization last year.

Building parent and child awareness about the risks of certain online platforms was a topic as well. Stephanie Elizalde, superintendent of Dallas ISD, said the pandemic created an urgency to push technology out to children without proper education about internet safety. After realizing this, the district began educating children about digital citizenship in 2021.

“On the other side of that screen or on the phone, there is evil and there are people that are harmful,” Elizalde said. “We think it is part of our responsibility to ensure that we help our students how to communicate appropriately and how to communicate when something doesn’t seem right.”

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, listens as Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde speaks during a press conference at the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, in Dallas. (Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer)

Cornyn said he began fighting the exploitation of children during his tenure as attorney general and said the issue has only become more complicated, pointing to AI and deepfakes as emerging threats.

He also discussed recent Senate hearings with social media and tech companies. Cornyn explained that, historically, these companies have not been held liable for most content posted to their websites.

“I do think we need more accountability of the big tech companies, self-policing is not enough,” Cornyn said.

The Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center hosted the event. The center’s president, Irish Burch, said the center aims to centralize services for families affected by child abuse, eliminating duplication and “ensure that family does not fall through the crack.”

The event also displayed the skills of the first electronic storage detection dog in North Texas. Remi, the K9 officer with the Dallas police, is trained to locate USB drives and digital memory cards that can be used to store exploitative images.

Remi’s skills were shown off when a USB drive was hidden in a storage room at the children’s advocacy center full of donations. Cornyn watched on, calling her skills “amazing.”

Remi, a K9 Officer with the Dallas Police Department, demonstrates how she is trained to find electronics like thumb drives, cell phones, and microSD cards that can be used to exploit children at the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, in Dallas. (Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer)

AT&T’s network suffered widespread outages across the country Thursday morning with cellular service and internet down, according to the tracking site Downdetector. 

Other cellular providers, including Verizon, T-Mobile and Cricket Wireless, have also reported outages. Verizon and T-Mobile said those affected had been trying to contact AT&T users.

AT&T reported service had been restored to all customers affected by the outage by late Thursday afternoon. It’s remains unclear what triggered the service disruption.

Follow live updates on the reported AT&T outages

Over 32,000 AT&T outages were reported by customers at about 4 a.m. ET on Thursday. Reports dipped then spiked again to more than 50,000 around 7 a.m., with most issues reported in Houston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Atlanta, according to the site.

That number surged to more than 71,000 just before 8 a.m. ET.

AT&T acknowledged the issue Thursday morning, saying: “Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning.”

A little over 1,100 T-Mobile outages and about 3,000 Verizon outages were reported as of 7 a.m. Thursday.

Verizon said Thursday morning that the outages are not affecting its network directly, only customers trying to reach another carrier. 

T-Mobile also said early Thursday that the network didn’t suffer an outage and is operating normally, and Downdetector numbers likely reflect customers attempting to reach users on other networks.

Cricket Wireless, which is owned by AT&T and uses its network, is also experiencing cellular problems. More than 13,500 customers reported outages as of 8 a.m. ET on Thursday. The number dipped to around 10,000 by 10 a.m.

“Allow us to explain that there is a nationwide network incident impacting multiple services,” the company wrote on X. “It is Cricket’s top priority to restore service to full capacity as quickly and safely as possible.”

Service has since been restored for all affected AT&T customers.

“We have restored wireless service to all our affected customers. We sincerely apologize to them. Keeping our customers connected remains our top priority, and we are taking steps to ensure our customers do not experience this again in the future,” the company said in a statement.

AT&T has not revealed what triggered the nationwide service disruption, though the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said there is no indication of a cyberattack.

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The most likely cause of the outage “is a cloud misconfiguration” which is “a fancy word for saying human error,” Lee McKnight, an associate professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, said in a statement.

The Federal Communications Commission is actively investigating the incident. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security are lending a hand.

The outages posed a concern to some customers Thursday morning who may be unable to reach 911 in the event of an emergency. 

The San Francisco Fire Department said on X that it was aware of an issue affecting AT&T wireless customers’ making and receiving phone calls, including to 911.

“The San Francisco 911 center is still operational,” the office said. “If you are an AT&T customer and cannot get through to 911, then please try calling from a landline. If that is not an option then please try to get ahold of a friend or family member who is a customer of a different carrier and ask them to call 911 on your behalf.”

Similarly, Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, Virginia’s Prince William County Police Department, and North Carolina’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department have issued warnings on X alerting the public about the outage while acknowledging some customers were briefly unable to contact 911.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said in a statement that the city is gathering information to assist in resolving the issue. 

“Atlanta’s e-911 is able to receive inbound and make outbound calls. We have received calls from AT&T customers that their cellular phones are in SOS mode,” Dickens said. 

Apple Support confirmed that iPhone users seeing SOS displayed in their status bar can still make emergency calls through other carrier networks.

Agencies across the country urged people to refrain from calling 911 to test their service. The line is for real emergencies only.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Katherine Itoh

Katherine Itoh is a news associate for NBC News.

Crystal Minaya, Josh Cradduck, Elizabeth Maline and Austin Mullen contributed.

Between major academic medical institutions, a slew of pharmaceutical companies and a new federal biotechnology hub, there’s no shortage of research studies taking place in North Texas.

But this latest trial is different: It didn’t use any animals or humans for testing.

In a Farmers Branch office over three months, North Texas biotech firm Praedicare completed a clinical trial for a drug candidate that could treat a nontuberculosis bacterial lung infection faster and more effectively than the current standard regimen.

Praedicare used an artificial intelligence-based program to analyze a drug in what the company is calling the first-ever virtual clinical trial. It’s a system that could save lives, as well as money and time in the drug development process, which takes around 10 to 15 years on average, said Praedicare’s CEO, Dr. Tawanda Gumbo.

The move toward AI has gripped every industry in recent years, although the it is often more heavily associated with tech and business than with medicine.

Related:Biotech hub win gives Dallas edge to be the next medical research hotbed

Farmers Branch-based Praedicare sees AI models as a way to revolutionize clinical research by weeding out ineffective drugs before they make it to the expensive and lengthy regulatory approval process. Only 10% of drug candidates make it from phase 1 trials to federal approval.

“We can now utilize our vast libraries of patient profiles in tandem with wet lab models, mathematical models and AI to accurately predict whether molecules will achieve disease clearance, making the process of drug development faster and more effective, with less risk to patients,” Gumbo said.

All drug candidates that gain approval of the Food and Drug Administration follow more or less the same path. First, a drug is developed. Then, it goes to preclinical research, where it’s tested in animal or test tube models.

If the drug is shown not to be toxic during the preclinical stage, it can move to the four stages of clinical trials: phase 1, to evaluate safety and dosage; phase 2, to evaluate efficacy and side effects; phase 3, to monitor adverse reactions in a larger participant pool; and phase 4, to evaluate safety and effectiveness using several thousand volunteers.

Praedicare’s study, published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, takes care of both the preclinical research and the first two phases of clinical trials. The research compared two treatments for Mycobacterium avium complex, a sometimes deadly lung infection caused by bacteria that naturally live in soil and water.

Federal regulators designated the lung disease as an orphan, meaning it’s a condition for which researching new treatments isn’t considered profitable. The designation is meant to incentivize drug developers to target these diseases, an often difficult task given the financial and time stakes.

The current standard treatment requires three antibiotics over 18 months and sees a 43% cure rate. The new treatment is only one drug, an antibiotic called ceftriaxone, that Praedicare predicted to have a cure rate of 80% after six months of use.

Dr. Tawanda Gumbo, CEO of Praedicare, shows how they conduct their clinical trials at the Praedicare office and labs, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Farmers Branch, Texas.(Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)

Gumbo has spent years trying to speed up the drug testing process. A decade ago, the FDA and European Medicines Agency approved his hollow fiber system model, which tests drugs on human cells rather than in animals. It’s used to satisfy the preclinical requirements, and can be more accurate than tests on mice, rats or chimpanzees.

“The biology of animals, especially small animals, is quite different from humans,” said Olivier Elemento, director of the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. “These models use human data and capture human biology as opposed to animal biology.”

Related:Children’s Health, UT Southwestern planning new $5B pediatric campus in Dallas

Praedicare evaluated the standard-of-care treatment on five MAC strains using the model. The effectiveness rates were the same in the hollow fiber system model as they were in previous human studies.

“That’s what gives us the confidence in this system,” said Gumbo, who previously worked at Baylor University Medical Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic.

The AI team, led by Gesham Magombedze, then used mathematical modeling of how a patient would respond to the new drug, looking at 1,000 simulated patients to predict its effectiveness and 10,000 simulated patients to find the best dosage.

Praedicare uses predictive rather than generative AI, meaning that the AI system is not creating new information, but is instead predicting trends using existing data.

The mathematical modeling section of the study replaces the first two clinical trial phases of the FDA regulation process, which can take anywhere from months to two years.

Praedicare has used the same predictive AI models in conjunction with traditional phase 1 and 2 trials and has found thatits computer-generated results are essentially identical to those of lab researchers.

Chief mathematical modeling and AI officer Gesham Magombedze pictured at the Praedicare office and labs, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Farmers Branch, Texas.(Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)

In total, Praedicare spent three months building and running the cell testing system and AI models for ceftriaxone, a fraction of the time traditional clinical trials require, Gumbo said.

Praedicare and some pharmaceutical partners are asking the National Institutes of Health for funding to move forward with a phase 3 trial.

Ceftriaxone is also an established antibiotic that’s safely used to treat other infections.

MAC is just one disease for which Praedicare has created a virtual model for drug candidates. It has similar models for obesity, Type II diabetes and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis fatty liver disease.

This isn’t the first time that AI has been used in drug development. Elemento at Weill Cornell Medicine said AI models are increasingly used alongside genomics to create treatments personalized to individual patients. What Praedicare did that was unique was applying a predictive model to a large number of simulated patients.

“But I think we’ll be seeing more of that, the combination of models and virtual patients, as the models become more and more reliable,” Elemento said.

“It doesn’t mean that they won’t have to do an actual clinical trial, but it means that you can essentially explore other parameters, the landscape of possible combinations of treatments, and make a statement about how often it’s likely to work in a patient population,” he said.

The Southland Conference has finished its review of the brawl that broke out following the men’s basketball game between Texas A&M-Commmerce and Incarnate Word earlier this week.

The conference is immediately suspending four players from each side for “flagrant unsportsmanlike actions.”

A&M-Commerce players Jerome Brewer Jr., Ant Abraham, and Kwo Agwa are each suspended for the next three games, while Prince Davies gets a one-game ban. The Lions have four games remaining, so all players will return this season.

Incarnate Word will be without point guard Elijah Davis for three games, and guard Alex Anderson, center Gabe Beny Til, and forward Marcus Glover for two. The Cardinals have five games remaining, and Anderson, the team’s second-leading scorer, is the most notable inclusion.

The scuffle broke out from an altercation in the handshake line after Commerce’s 76-72 overtime win on Monday in San Antonio. It quickly escalated as a shoving match turned into a melee, and players had to be restrained while punches were thrown, leaving some injured.

The conference and the universities condemned the players’ behavior and agreed to cooperate and sort out the ensuing disciplinary actions.

“The Southland Conference Board of Directors has set clear expectations for sportsmanship and behavior of our student-athletes, coaches, and spectators during and after competitions. Unfortunately, these expectations were not met on Monday night, and the Southland Conference will not tolerate any unsportsmanlike behavior,” a statement from Southland Commissioner Chris Grant reads in the official announcement. “I would like to extend our appreciation to A&M-Commerce Athletics Director Jim Curry and UIW Athletics Director Richard Duran for their unwavering partnership and diligent resolution of this matter.”

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A coyote spotted in Arlington’s Parkway Central Park was captured Thursday morning after three children had reportedly been bitten.

Video footage from KDFW-TV (Channel 4) showed police and animal service officers putting a lassoed coyote into a city van. An officer at the scene told the TV station the coyote charged them at one point.

It was not clear whether the captured coyote had bitten any children or if the kids had all three been attacked by the same animal.

The coyote will be euthanized and taken to the Texas Health and Human Services in Austin for rabies testing, a city news release said.

The park remains closed to the public and officials are continuing to patrol the area for additional coyotes.

The city initially closed the park, located at 600 Van Buren Drive, on Tuesday after officials learned of the attacks between Saturday and Tuesday. The kids were playing on the playground or in the parking lot when the biting incidents occurred.

Each child was treated for their injuries and released from the hospital. They will all receive post-exposure rabies treatment, officials said.

After the attacks, police and animal services began patrolling the area and setting out traps.

Related:What do you do if you encounter a coyote in Dallas-Fort Worth?

Surrounding properties and Arlington ISD were also notified about coyotes in the area after someone called 911 reporting one was following pedestrians near the park on Wednesday afternoon.

Code Compliance Director Brian Daugherty said in a news release that coyotes can be found throughout Arlington, but are typically afraid of people, adding that aggressive encounters in the city have been rare.

“Public Safety is our priority and the City of Arlington had not previously experienced any coyote attacks,” he said. “Coyotes and other wildlife are now part of our urban environment, and we need to find the best way to coexist,”

He also recommended taking precautions when outdoors, such as not trying to engage with wildlife, and encourages reporting sightings on the city website so it can be tracked and addressed by animal services.

The city is partnering with the United States Department of Agriculture wildlife staff to reduce the number of coyotes in the area of the park in an effort to change the pack’s behavior.

Arlington park reopens after coyote attacks; officials ask visitors to report sightings

Arlington city officials on Tuesday reopened a city park that was closed after multiple reports of coyote attacks.

Colossal Biosciences is taking animal de-extinction to the big screen

Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences is taking its first steps into the entertainment world with a new docuseries focusing on the company’s efforts to revive extinct species and save others close to extinction.

What do you do if you encounter a coyote in Dallas-Fort Worth?

If you encounter a coyote in your neighborhood, most metro area cities recommend scaring them off and reporting it to a local hotline.

Editor’s Note: Because the 12-year-old girl has been found, her name and image have been removed from this report to try to protect her privacy.

An AMBER Alert issued for a missing 12-year-old Waxahachie girl has been canceled after the Texas Department of Safety says the girl was found.

On Friday morning, officials with Homeland Security Investigations said they believed the girl could have been out of state. By mid-morning, the Texas DPS updated their status to say the girl had been found. During a news conference Friday afternoon, HSI said the missing girl was found in a hotel room in Southern Dallas, in a high-crime area, about an hour after Waxahachie Police received an anonymous tip by phone.

“I wanted to announce: We got her. We found Tanya, she’s safe,” said Mary Magness, Deputy Special Agent in Charge for HSI Dallas.

Investigators said the girl did not resist officers when they found her.

“When the officers knocked on the door, she opened the door, she was cooperative with law enforcement. There was no altercations or confrontations with her and they immediately took her into safety and escorted her out of that area back to the Dallas Police Department headquarters where we could make sure she was safe,” said John Perez, supervisory special agent over the HSI Dallas-led North Texas Trafficking Task Force.

HSI officials said the girl was found alone and that no arrests have been made in connection with the case.

They said they could not comment on why the girl left her house, or what happened in the hours she was missing.

Perez said they had also used the girl’s cell phone, left behind at home, to “generate investigative leads.”

Officials also said the investigation into her disappearance is ongoing and they cannot comment if it is being classified as a runaway or sex trafficking case.

Perez confirmed that his trafficking unit was still on the case.

“We’re continuing to work the investigative leads that we have that’s all I can say at this point just because it’s an ongoing case, and we don’t want to compromise anything we have,” he said.

He said the girl is receiving care and support from the Ellis County Child Advocacy Center.

AMBER ALERT ISSUED AFTER GIRL, 12, MISSING IN WAXAHACHIE

An AMBER Alert was issued Thursday morning for a 12-year-old girl from Waxahachie who was believed to be in grave danger.

“She was reported missing on the morning of Valentine’s Day,” Lt. Joshua Oliver with Waxahachie Police said. “Our investigators and members of Homeland Security Investigations of the North Texas Trafficking Task Force have been working diligently tracking down various leads from a cell phone [she] left behind.”

According to police, they followed leads from cell phone calls, messages, and social media accounts from across the country in their search for the girl.

“We have exhausted all possible leads,” Oliver said. “Our investigation has led us to believe that [her] well-being is in serious risk. And because of that information, we proceeded to follow the AMBER Alert on her behalf.”

However, this is not the first time the child is at the center of an AMBER Alert.

“I can confirm that an AMBER Alert was issued [on her behalf] back in July of 2023, where she was eventually returned home to safety,” Oliver said.

Investigators with HSI North Texas Trafficking Task Force could not provide more details about the case due to the girl’s age. However, they said there is no reason to believe anyone linked to her disappearance last summer is involved in the current investigation.

Still, they said the child is a high-risk case with her age being a major concern. John Perez is a Supervisory Special Agent with HSI and supervisor of the North Texas Trafficking Task Force. He said, that as the hours pass, the child could begin to approach people for basic needs.

“Shelter, food, water just to survive each day,” he said. “So, the longer she’s out by herself the more vulnerable she becomes to someone coming in trying to assist her, but actually really being there to exploit her.”

Officials said their hope in finding the girl and returning her home to her family lies in the fact that someone in the community may have seen her and will contact the Waxahachie Police Department or local law enforcement.

Police are asking anyone with information about the girl’s disappearance to call the Waxahachie Police Department at 469-309-4400.

Check back and refresh this page for the latest update. As developments unfold, elements of this story may change.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING RISKS

NBC 5 asked an expert why officers may have believed the girl might be in danger of being trafficked.

“Well, think about it: Somebody, a minor goes missing, you have to think about that. They don’t really have any resources to fall back on,” said Chad Frymire, board president of the North Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking.

He said without resources like credit cards, cash, or a car, kids are vulnerable to being exploited by predators for work, services, or commercial sex.

“They start forming these relationships, giving them gifts again, being nice to them, maybe posing as a boyfriend or a girlfriend, and things like that,” Frymire explained.

“Younger kids might be more naive, easier to manipulate. But also, teenagers are also at high risk due to their desire for independence, experiment,” he added.

He said a traumatic past can also be a risk factor.

“If a child has experienced physical or sexual emotional abuse, they’re at a higher risk. And so, many times they’ll normalize that abusive relationship,” Frymire said.

He said many times, kids will get online and start talking to people they don’t know.

“Maybe they had a fight with mom or they’re having troubles at home. And these traffickers listen to them and commiserate with them and become a confidant. And that kind of begins the process of grooming them into a situation where they might be trafficked,” Frymire explained.

Another element: the family environment.

“If there’s violence and substance abuse, maybe neglect in the home, these kids might seek safety and shelter elsewhere,” he said.

TEXAS STATEWIDE ALERT PROGRAMS

There are eight kinds of alerts that can be issued for missing or endangered people in Texas. They are listed below with links to a page with more information.

A Dallas woman was sentenced Wednesday to a little over 12 years in prison on federal drug and firearm charges, authorities said.

U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr sentenced Danette Ozuna, 48, to 151 months in federal prison. She was indicted in 2022 and pleaded guilty last year to one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas said in a news release.

An attorney representing Ozuna declined to comment on the sentencing.

Authorities wrote in the release that a confidential informant bought methamphetamine multiple times in March 2022 from Ozuna at the Star Motel in east Oak Cliff. Two months after the purchases, authorities, with a warrant, searched the hotel and found Ozuna in one of the rooms.

While authorities were arresting her, she said there was a handgun under a pillow on the bed, the release said. According to an indictment, Ozuna had a 9 mm Glock.

In the room, authorities found a handgun, drug ledger, a bank bag with about $7,000 and a red bag with methamphetamine. Officers found more methamphetamine in a nightstand drawer, the release said.

Prosecutors mentioned in a sentencing hearing there were listed rules for drug purchases outside of the motel room, the release said. The rules listed rates for a certain number of drugs and added that “what you have [money] for is what you will get — no extra, no fronts.”

“If you owe me money you will not get more until debt is cleared,” one of the rules said.

Ozuna faced the federal firearms charge because she was convicted in 2014 of a felony in Kaufman County and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, making it a federal crime for her to possess a firearm, according to the release.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, Kaufman County Sheriff’s Department and the Dallas Police Department conducted the investigation.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Caitlin Clark broke the NCAA women’s career scoring record, making a 3-pointer from about 35 feet in the first quarter for No. 4 Iowa against Michigan on Thursday night.

Clark went into the game needing eight points to pass Kelsey Plum’s total of 3,527.

She wasted no time, making her first three shots — a layup and two 3s — and scoring Iowa’s first eight points. The record-breaker was a 3 off the dribble on the left wing near the Mediacom Court logo with 7:45 left in the first quarter.

“It’s cool. It’s cool to be in the same realm as a lot of really, really good players,” Clark said at halftime in a televised interview. “I’m lucky to do it because I have really good teammates and really good coaches and a great support system that surrounds me.”

Iowa won the tip and Clark, guarded by Laila Phelia, drove to the basket and banked in a shot from the right side. Clark hit a 3 from the left wing on Iowa’s next possession. The Hawkeyes turned the ball over twice before Clark took a pass from Gabbie Marshall in transition, stopped and and shot from deep on the left side.

When the ball went through, the fans — many of them standing and holding up phones to capture the moment — let loose a huge roar.

After Clark’s 3, Phelia missed a layup, for Michigan and Iowa’s Molly Davis rebounded. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder called timeout and a celebration ensued. Clark hugged teammates, Bluder and staffers, and the record was acknowledged while delighted fans continued to scream.

“Just grateful. Thankful to be surrounded by people and be in a city that supports women’s basketball so much,” Clark said. “Be surrounded by my best friends and people that want to see me be great and push me to be great every single day.”

Plum scored 57 points on the night she broke the scoring record in 2017 as a senior at Washington, and Clark played as if she had that on her mind. She had 23 points in the first quarter, making five of her first seven 3-pointers and 8 of 10 shots overall.

Clark’s next target is the all-time major women’s college scoring record of 3,649 points by Kansas star Lynette Woodard from 1977-81. During Woodard’s era, women’s sports were governed by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. Pearl Moore of Francis Marion holds the overall women’s record with 4,061 points from 1975-79.

Iowa has four regular-season games left, plus the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. Barring injury, Clark, a senior who averages 32.1 points per game, is all but certain to pass Woodard. And she has the option to return for a fifth season of college basketball because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clark and her dynamic game have captivated the nation for two seasons. Last year, she led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA title game and was named AP player of the year. More than just her pursuit of the record, her long 3-pointers and flashy passes have raised interest in the women’s game to unprecedented levels. Arenas have been sold out for her games, home and away, and television ratings have never been higher.

It’s all been more than Clark imagined when the 6-foot guard from West Des Moines stayed in state and picked Iowa over Notre Dame in November 2019.

“I dreamed of doing really big things, playing in front of big crowds, going to the Final Four, maybe not quite on this level,” Clark said this week. “I think that’s really hard to dream. You can always exceed expectations, even your own, and I think that’s been one of the coolest parts.”

Though her basketball obligations and endorsement deals (State Farm ads, etc.) have put demands on her time, she said she is the same person who showed up on campus four years ago.

“I just go about my business as I did when I was a freshman during COVID,” Clark said. “Sure, my life has kind of changed somewhat. I still live the exact same way. I still act like a 22-year-old college kid.”

She said she still cleans her apartment, does laundry, plays video games, hangs out with friends and does schoolwork.

Her run to the record could have come earlier, but it arrived back at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, where ticket resale prices for the Michigan game ranged from hundreds of dollars into the thousands. Fans again showed up early outside the arena, many wearing black-and-gold No. 22 jerseys and holding signs paying homage.

Mya Anderson and her friend, Ellie Steffensen, both 12, and their moms made the six-hour drive from Canton, South Dakota, to see Clark break the record.

“I think she’s inspired a lot of people,” Mya said.

“Yeah, a lot of little girls,” Ellie added.

Mya and Ellie both play basketball, and both said they try to do some of the things Clark does on the court, like shoot long 3s.

“But I’m not as good as her,” Ellie said.

Kelly Jared of Manchester, Iowa, said she likes everything about Clark and expects her impact on the women’s game to endure.

“She’s taken it to a new level,” Jared said. “The aspirations and goals that the current players and future players have, she has set that bar way up in the sky. And it’s perfect, because they will work to attain them. As as far as the fans, there’s excitement for the people who never watched women’s basketball. My son isn’t a basketball fan, but he watched Caitlin last year and he was sold. He absolutely loves her.”

Unlike Sunday’s loss at Nebraska, which drew almost 2 million viewers on Fox, this game was streamed on Peacock.

“I understand the magnitude of this,” Clark said. “It’s come along with how my four years have gone, and it’s crazy looking back on how fast everything has gone. I’m really thankful and grateful.”

Twitter: @SportsDayDFW

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

Jon Hamm is the latest actor to join Taylor Sheridan’s new series Landman, which recently started production in and around Fort Worth.

Hamm will appear in a regular guest star role in the show about West Texas oil rigs. He’ll play Monty Miller, a Texas oil baron who has a history with Tommy Norris, played by Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton.

Other cast members include Demi Moore, Ali Larter, Michelle Randolph, Jacob Lofland, Kayla Wallace, James Jordan, Mark Collie and Paulina Chávez.

Landman started filming earlier this month, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, with scenes shot on Texas Christian University’s campus as recently as Thursday. Weeks earlier, a casting agency rounded up students and alumni to appear.

The show created by Sheridan, a Weatherford resident, along with Christian Wallace is based on the 11-part podcast Boomtown from Texas Monthly. Paramount+ describes Landman as a story about “roughnecks and wildcat billionaires fueling a boom so big, it’s reshaping our climate, our economy and our geopolitics.”

Hamm broke out in 2007 as Don Draper on AMC’s immortal series Mad Men. His role as the no-nonsense advertising executive won him an Emmy and two Golden Globes.

He’s stayed busy ever since, hosting Saturday Night Live three times and picking up Emmy nominations for his appearances on 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Last year, he starred in the fifth season of Fargo for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. He also appears on Apple TV+’s The Morning Show and Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens.

Last week, Demi Moore joined the cast of Landman as Cami, described as the wife of a powerful Texas oilman and a friend of Thornton’s character.

The show is the latest in Sheridan’s ever-growing portfolio of mostly Western titles, which now spans 1923, 1883, Special Ops: Lioness, Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King and Lawmen: Bass Reeves on Paramount+.

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Charges against a former Dallas ISD employee who was accused of assaulting a student have been dismissed, court filings show.

Former coach Marcel Brooks was shown in a viral Instagram video from April hitting a person identified in the post as a student at least twice, knocking the glasses off the student’s face.

The incident occurred at Justin F. Kimball High School in west Oak Cliff. Brooks was arrested and faced a misdemeanor assault charge. He was released on a $1,500 bond.

Brooks was also placed on administrative leave following the incident and fired the following week according to his attorney, Dan Wyde.

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On Monday, the Dallas County district attorney’s office filed a motion to dismiss the charge, saying it was unable to proceed with the case after a review of the evidence. A judge granted the dismissal the same day.

Wyde said Brooks is a graduate of Kimball and had been volunteering there for several years as a football and wrestling coach when the district hired him as a hall monitor. (The district clarified his title was “school monitor.”)

Brooks told WFAA-TV the group of students in the video were not in class when they were supposed to be. He said he approached them about this and a student made physical contact with him first, which led Brooks to defend himself.

“I kinda moved my head so he caught me in the face and neck area and shoved me into some tables that was right there,” Brooks told WFAA.

In a statement from Brooks provided by his attorney, Brooks said dealing with the incident has been “a long battle.”

“I am blessed I can close this chapter and move forward with my life,” he said.

Wyde also said the district needs to review its policies on how employees are treated in dealing with similar situations.

“It’s shameful that employees don’t have the right to self-defense when attacked by a student,” Wyde said.

A Dallas ISD spokesperson declined to comment.

At the time of the incident, Dallas ISD released a statement that said it was “deeply disturbed” by the incident.

“We have taken swift action and will hold all parties involved in this serious offense responsible, to the fullest extent of the law,” the district’s statement said.