Dallas News

Shequitta Kelly was a straight-A student when her high school counselor told her she couldn’t go to law school. The white adult in Michigan City, Ind. told the then 15-year-old Kelly, who is Black and was pregnant at the time, that she should settle on a trade instead. Perhaps she could be a beautician, Kelly recalled the counselor suggesting. Now …

As the Senate prepared for the history-making confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Thursday, one verse from the Negro national anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” felt especially poignant to Cheryl Brown Wattley, a professor at the UNT-Dallas College of Law: “Have not our weary feet / Come to the place for which our fathers …

Fort Worth police are asking for the public’s help finding a 67-year-old man last seen Thursday morning. William Craig McConnell was last seen about 11:30 a.m. in the 2800 block of Milam Street. Police said he was driving a green Dodge Caravan with Texas handicap license plate 6NCCF. McConnell is described as a white man who is 6-2 and about …

Two firefighters were hospitalized after responding to a fire Thursday evening at a senior-living facility in Far East Dallas. The fire broke out about 6:30 p.m. at Lakeland Hills Senior Living in the 3300 block of Dilido Road, near John West Road. Smoke was seen coming out of the second floor of the three-story building when firefighters arrived, said Jason …

WASHINGTON — Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black woman to be elevated to the Supreme Court when the Democratic-controlled Senate on Thursday confirmed President Joe Biden’s pick. The final vote was 53-47, with all 50 Democratic caucus members supporting Jackson, joined by Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine; Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; and Mitt Romney of Utah. In a symbolic moment, Vice …

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered the state to start busing undocumented immigrants to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday in response to President Joe Biden’s lifting of a policy that turned away migrants because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Texans cannot continue to shoulder the burdens imposed by open-border advocates in other parts of the country,” Abbott said in his order to the Texas Division of Emergency Management, …

A Celina man has been sentenced to life in prison for assaulting his pregnant girlfriend. Apolonio Rodriguez, 33, was sentenced Friday, a day after a Collin County jury convicted him of aggravated assault. Prosecutors presented evidence during his sentencing that showed he had a history of abusing women going back to 2007. “Rodriguez spent 15 years abusing multiple women,” Collin …

In the world of vaccine research, starting a new vaccine candidate in the early stages of the long and expensive development process is relatively commonplace. Less common? Making it to the final round of clinical trials before taking a new vaccine to the Food and Drug Administration for approval — especially with a therapy that could expand protection against COVID-19 …

A move to run for elected office would mean an early resignation for Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, according to a separation agreement between the schools chief and trustees. The unusual clause would be triggered if Hinojosa announces his candidacy or names a campaign treasurer, a move that’s required of all candidates seeking any Texas public office. His decision to …

A man was fatally shot Wednesday evening on the frontage road of Interstate 35W in Fort Worth, police say. Officers were called just before 7 p.m. to the northbound frontage road near East Morphy Street and found a man with a gunshot wound. The man was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital, where he died. His name has not been …