Senior Reporter @ WFAA | Host of Inside Texas Politics | Co-host of Y’all-itics Podcast jwhitely@wfaa.com | Instagram: @jasonwhitely
Dallas/Fort Worth
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DEBATE: Gov. @GregAbbott_TX said school safety "is going to be an emergency item" during the next legislative session in January 2023.
@BetoORourke asks "If it’s an emergency, why not call [a special session] now?
#TXGovDebate
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#BREAKING: Passengers stuck in long lines for immigration at @DFWAirport tell us there are no offers of hand sanitizer, gloves, or masks from U.S. Customs / Immigration. Travelers say they’ve had no screenings of temp yet and no one following #coronavirus protocols.
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#BREAKING: New angle of the mid-air collision obtained by @WFAA shows B-17 and other aircraft flying formations at #WingsOverDallas at 1:21p today, when it was hit by a P-63 and fell to the ground over the airfield at Dallas Executive Airport (RBD).
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"I am a Texan. I am an American before I'm a Republican."
Former Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley says he thinks other Republicans will also privately vote for @KamalaHarris or skip the race altogether next month.
STORY: wfaa.com/article/news/politi…
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SCOOP: Tarrant County @Judge_Whitley, the Republican leader of Texas' largest GOP county, said he will back Democrat Mike @CollierForTexas instead of the Republican incumbent @DanPatrick.
Whitley explained why in a new episode of @Yallitics.
EPISODE: apple.co/3cQJOR3
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Six seconds is as long as it lasted at the church shooting this morning. For as many people there who were armed — one clearly had recurrent training, knew what to do and fired the fatal shot immediately ending the threat. That’s heroism.
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ENGAGED.
State Rep. @VentonJonesTX, a Dallas Democrat, just proposed to his longtime partner, Gregory Scott, Jr. moments after being sworn in. Jones popped the question when the House went into recess. #txlege
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#BREAKING:
GUILTY:
Jury finds former Dallas police officer #AmberGuyger guilty of murder in the shooting death of #BothamJean.
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NEW: @dallasdemocrats and @DallasGOP issue joint statement calling on the public to "take a deep breath and stay patient and calm while election officials count all votes."
We need that spirit of birpartisanship while the system works.
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#BREAKING: @tedcruz and @ColinAllredTX agree to their first televised debate.
It's Tuesday, October 15 at 7:00p at @WFAA's downtown Dallas studios.
You can watch the hour-long debate on-air and online on all of @TEGNA's 12 stations in Texas.
wfaa.com/article/news/politi…
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POLL: Who won the U.S. Senate debate tonight in Dallas? #TXSenateDebate
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Ted Cruz
62%
Beto O’Rourke
99,510 votes • Final results
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UPDATE: The shooter is one of the deceased this morning, according to MedStar — at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement. Video shows an armed church member took the shooter down with a single shot.
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NOW: Members of Congress given gas masks on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Congressman Colin Allred, D-Dallas, in the upper left with stars on his face mask.
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"I have not endorsed in any other Senate race this time around..."
@Liz_Cheney in Texas on why she's backing Democrat @ColinAllredTX for U.S. Senate over Republican @TedCruz, who she says she has known for 20+ years. #txlege
STORY: wfaa.com/video/news/politics…
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SHE MIGHT BE DEMOCRATS best chance at winning statewide office but polls show half of Texas voters do not know attorney general nominee @RochelleMGarza. She sat down with Inside Texas Politics.
Incumbent @KenPaxtonTX did not return our messages requesting an interview.
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#BREAKING: The suspect in the #AustinBombings has been killed after FBI, Austin police tracked him down and engaged him in Round Rock within the last hour, according to state law enforcement officials. A device detonated --which they expected when they pursued him. Then shots.
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NEW: Before and after images of home near Dallas North Tollway and Royal Lane in North Dallas — that was badly damaged during the tornado tonight. #wfaaweather
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LIGHTNING strike on Reunion Tower in downtown Dallas during this afternoon’s thunderstorm, captured from WFAA’s camera on its broadcast tower. #txwx #wfaaweather #lightningstrike
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Audience for first @BetoORourke @tedcruz debate at @SMU has not yet arrived - but the rolling billboard of Tweets from @realDonaldTrump is parked outside McFarlin Auditorium. #TXSenateDebate
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#BREAKING: @ERCOT_ISO, the power grid operator in Texas, says about half of the wind turbine capacity (25,000-megawatts) in West Texas is not generating b/c of winter weather.
"As of this morning about half of the wind capacity was iced out," said Dan Woodfin, ERCOT.
#txwx
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A DOZEN+ GOP OFFFICIALS IN Texas have met with Democratic Lt. Gov. nominee Mike @CollierForTexas, he reveals.
"I'm not aware of this ever happening before. I don't think it's happening around the country but it's happening here," Collier said. #txlege
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TONIGHT AT 7:00p… @GregAbbott_TX and @BetoORourke meet in the first and only Texas gubernatorial debate of 2022.
It’s happening at U.T. Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg.
Gov. Abbott would not agree to an audience.
The campus theater will be empty. #txlege #txgovdebate
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#BREAKING: Republican Texas state Senator @KSeliger tells @quorumreport that he will now back Democrat Mike @CollierForTexas over incumbent GOP Lt. Gov. @DanPatrick.
This come 48-hrs after Republican Tarrant County Judge @glen_whitley told @Yallitics that he's backing Collier.
amarillo republican sen. kel seliger tells quorum report he plans to vote for democrat mike collier for lt. gov.: bit.ly/3RDMb8O #txlege
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"THE NUMBER ONE DRIVER OF #inflation in Texas is @GregAbbott_TX," said @BetoORourke on Inside Texas Politics - when asked whether he's concerned that inflation will drag down Democratic turnout in November.
#txlege
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#BREAKING
7,000,000 Texans having to boil water now because of the #TexasBlackout, according to TCEQ.
#txwx
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NEW VIDEO from an eyewitness at the apartment complex on the east side of the Dallas skyline badly damaged by a falling crane in this afternoon’s severe thunderstorm. (Warning about the language.)
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#BREAKING: Shooting inside of West Freeway Church of Christ in Fort Worth. Video shows a man enters the sanctuary with a rifle and fired three shots. Injuries unknown. Church security (armed members) subdued him.
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#BREAKING:
Early next week, the @TexasLonghorns and @UofOklahoma will send a letter to the @Big12Conference stating that neither school will renew their media contracts when they expire in 2025.
-more-
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#BREAKING: Former President (and Dallas resident) George W. Bush releases statement on protests — saying it is not time for leaders to lecture but to listen after unrest related to the death of #GeorgeFloyd.
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CANDIDATE SPEECHES over at this site for the #IowaCaucus in West Des Moines. Voters jotted their candidate on sheet of paper before they were all collected in a brown grocery bag.
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Someone hacked Dallas tornado sirens last night - turning on all 156 of them near midnight.
Here's the city statement:
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VIDEO: Several thousand @BernieSanders supporters crowded into the Mesquite, Tex. rodeo arena on Valentine’s night to see the Democratic presidential frontrunner.
*Live report — WFAA @ 10p*
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Lifelong Republican and former Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley told me this morning that he will vote for Democrats @KamalaHarris and @ColinAllredTX rather than @realDonaldTrump and @TedCruz.
STORY: wfaa.com/article/news/politi…
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VACCINATED: The first of 5,850 #CovidVaccine doses at @MethodistDallas went to Teresa Mata, 51, who cleans rooms in the ER. She's a mother of four and wants to protect her family. More than 100 COVID-19 vaccines will be given here today.
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#BREAKING: Gov. Tim Walz will be in Dallas on Monday for a private fundraiser.
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#BREAKING:
STOLEN MONKEYS:
The @DallasZoo says someone has now stolen two our emperor tamarin monkeys.
@DallasPD has opened an investigation.
Just this month, a clouded leopard somehow escaped and a vulture died of mysterious circumstances.
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#BREAKING: All summer camps and day and overnight camps can reopen on May 31, said @GovAbbott.
Professional sports like pro golf, football, baseball and basektball can also return at the end of the month.
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Sen. @JohnCornyn at the Trump rally in Houston: “There is no stronger advocate for Houston than @tedcruz. I need Ted Cruz back in he Senate.”
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#BREAKING:
SOURCES: After notifying the @Big12Conference early next week, @TexasLonghorns and @UofOklahoma will petition the @SEC for membership.
-more-
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NORTH DALLAS DAMAGE: Homes badly damaged near the Dallas North Tollway and Royal Lane — close to St. Mark’s School. #wfaaweather
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#BREAKING:
Governor @GregAbbott_TX told WFAA that the supply of natural gas is becoming an issue.
Natural gas is "frozen in the pipeline and frozen in the rig," Abbott said.
Could we have natural gas outages?
That gas heats home, fuels power plants. #txwx
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#BREAKING: Mass shooting happened at a Homecoming party at Texas A&M Commerce overnight. At least two fatalities. More than a dozen injured. A .227 caliber rifle is believed to be used. Motive unknown. Commerce, Texas is in Hunt County — an hour east of Dallas.
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#BREAKING: Security guard contracted to Denver's @9News to be charged with 2nd Degree Murder in shooting death of demonstrator #LeeKeltner. If convicted, this carries a mandatory prison sentence of between 16 and 48 years.
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#BREAKING: In announcing a "shelter-in-place" order for Dallas County, @JudgeClayJ Jenkins shows two graphs that helped him make the decision. "It makes me sick we're at this point," he said.
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DEFAMATION LAWSUIT: @BetoORourke says he was just sued by Dallas-based @EnergyTransfer CEO Kelcy Warren… bc O’Rourke has said that Gov. @GregAbbott_TX gave “free license” for natural gas companies like ETP to charge what they wanted during the deadly February 2021 freeze.
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#BREAKING: The presidents from the 14 universities of the @SEC will vote *tomorrow* on whether to allow @TexasLonghorns and @UofOklahoma to join. This is now moving at a rapid pace.
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"MY GRANDMOTHER SAVED nickels and pennies together to buy a poll tax... to try and be a participant in democracy," says @senfronia4Texas on why it's worth it for her to break quorum and go to Washington, D.C.
#txlege
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How does the biggest energy producing state in the country not have enough energy to keep its residents warm, @texasdemocrats are asking.
They're not alone.
Frozen equipment knocked out power generation at gas, coal and nuclear plants. Lawmakers want answers, as well.
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.@TheRickWilson from @ProjectLincoln explains why he thinks Gov. @GregAbbott_TX is more dangerous than Donald Trump.
Wilson is on the latest episode of @Yallitics discussing why the Lincoln Project is campaigning against Abbott. Listen now at @wfaa.com slash @Yallitics.
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THURSDAY: Ivanka Trump @IvankaTrump and Google CEO @sundarpichai to host a roundtable in Dallas on Thursday -- on training workers for the changing economy.
wfaa.com/article/news/ivanka…
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RIP: John McCain, War Hero, Senator, Presidential Contender, Dies at 81 via @NYTimes nyti.ms/2P9j8tx?smid=nytcore…
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QUESTION TO @BetoORourke: Republicans say you support #abortion up until the time of birth. Is that the case?
O'Rourke and @GregAbbott_TX on Inside Texas Politics this morning. #txlege
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#BREAKING:
@JudgeClayJ: "This is going to spread across this state. A month from now, nobody is going to be saying thank God I was able to go to work for an extra two weeks. They'll be saying I wish my community would have acted sooner."
#coronavirus
#FlattenTheCurve
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Witness tells @KENS5 that about half the congregation was killed during the 11:00a service today at First Baptist Church in #SutherlandSprings - east of San Antonio.
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#BREAKING: Texas Dept. Of Public Safety says it appears the back door of #RobbElementary was unlocked and there was NOT a school officer that confronted the #Uvalde shooter when he initially entered the school.
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#BREAKING:
Texas Gov. @GregAbbott_TX:
If businesses want to limit capacity or enact their own protocols, they can. "At this time, businesses don't need the state telling them how to operate."
#COVID19 #coronavirus
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FOLLOW-UP
In the #TXGovDebate tonight, Gov. @GregAbbott_TX said NYC mayor never reached out about bussing migrants north.
NYC Tweets emails showing contact was made.
.@GregAbbott_TX, not only did our office call you about this, but we followed up via email.
Always keep the receipts, folks! #TXGovDebate
(Redacted the names because the inquiries should be directed at @GovAbbott and not staffers.)
Time for a followup, @utrgv!
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Shoutout to all the law enforcement and first responders spending this Christmas Eve at work. Hoping it’s a peaceful night.
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For the first time in weeks, Austin will wake up with a sense of relief this morning - the serial bomber is dead, killing himself after FBI, police closed in this morning in Round Rock, Texas.
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Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, My Pillow pitchman Mike Lindell, and musician Ted Nugent are at the Trump rally in Waco.
Nugent asked for and got a moment of silence for people charged and convicted for the January 6 insurrection.
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PASTORS PREPARE TO SUE TEXAS over its abortion law - #SB8 - arguing it violates their religious freedom.
Rev. Rachel Baughman from Dallas' @OLUMC is one of four pastors who sent a pre-suit letter to Texas AG @KenPaxtonTX. Baughman explained it on Inside Texas Politics. #txlege
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#BREAKING: #BothamJean’s mother blasts @DallasPD after #AmberGuyger’s sentence: “That ten years in prison is for reflection and for her to change her life. But there is much more to be done by the city of Dallas. The corruption we saw must stop.”
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Dallas D.A. Faith Johnson says "we plan to vigorously prosecute this case" regarding former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver.
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#BREAKING: On Tuesday morning, @TexasLonghorns and @UofOklahoma will formally file a letter with the @SEC requesting admission to that conference.
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.@BetoORourke arrives in Dallas at one of his final campaign rallies before polls close tonight. He goes on to Houston and later to El Paso.
Gov. @GregAbbott_TX does not have any public appearances today before his watch party in McAllen.
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#BREAKING:
@ERCOT_ISO says most of the electric generating plants that went off-line last night were natural gas, coal or nuclear facilities that shut down.
Combined, that took more than 30,000 megawatts from the grid -- leading to the rotating outages.
#txwx
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#BREAKING: @GovAbbott issues a mandatory statewide face mask policy in every Texas county that has 20 or more #COVID19 cases.
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.@BetoORourke leading a march of several thousand people along a hwy by the US / Mexico border in El Paso. Theyre protesting @realDonaldTrump plan to extend a border wall, and marching to the president’s rally about a mile away.
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FINAL PUSH: Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Ronny Jackson, Kari Lake and others at brewery in Fort Dodge, IA urging Trump supporters to go vote tonight in the #IowaCaucus.
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UPDATE: The heroic church member who shot down a gunman Sunday at West Freeway Church of Christ is running for county commissioner in Hood County, reports @BudKennedy. Jack Wilson runs a firearms training facility in Granbury, Texas.
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#BREAKING: 2 dead, 14 injured in shooting at non-sanctioned Texas A&M Commerce homecoming party. 750 people from Dallas, FW, Arlington, Cedar Hill, Commerce were here. Suspect at large. Believed to have used a semi-automatic rifle. Happened at The Party Venue - w. of Greenville.
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You’re right. The law does not require that unfortunately. But that church is fortunate to have had that one armed individual there. He kept his cool and knew how to react in an ultra fast, high pressure situation... and took out the shooter with a single shot. Incredible.
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"I was a police officer for 15 years... I don't scare easily."
Republican Tarrant Co. Commissioner @MannyRamirez_TX on the political threats he has faced from @TarrantGOP after voting to keep voting on college campuses. #txlege
STORY: wfaa.com/article/news/politi…
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The final log book entry - what mechanics wrote about the last @AmericanAir MD-80 before it left ORD for the desert in Roswell, NM this afternoon. #Super80SendOff
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LESS THAN 48-HOURS after the massacre at the #allenoutletmall, Gov. Greg Abbott has moved on.
wfaa.com/article/news/state/…
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#BREAKING: Marchers protesting the killing of #BothamJean have blocked lanes on I-30 in downtown Dallas.
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NEW:
JUST IN: FBI opens civil rights investigation into circumstances of "deadly vehicular incident" in Charlottesville. abcn.ws/2vPqvAo
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#BREAKING:
Statement from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz on his vacation trip to Cancun, Mexico during the #TexasBlackout.
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In Texas, it is easier to get into medical school than veterinary school.
@TexasTech is on the verge of doing something that hasn't happened here in 100 years.
WFAA @ 10p
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ICYMI: Shoving on the floor of the Texas House today after Rep. Matt Rinaldi, R-Farmers Branch, said he called ICE on protesters. (via KVUE)
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2020: @DaveChappelle is a surrogate for @AndrewYang in Iowa...
Starting Line was at a press conference with Dave Chappelle and Andrew Yang at ISU in Ames. Here’s the video from those answers (1/?)
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ICYMI: @AmericanAir employee loses his temper. Calmer employees stepped in. Airline suspends unruly employee.
Tense moments btwn passengers and crew member on an American Airlines plane. At 10p, more from DFW on what happened. @wfaachannel8
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Flight attendants aren’t there to serve you drinks. They’re there to save lives. Salute to this 34-year-old woman trying to stop passengers from getting their luggage before evacuating the burning aircraft. She threw people off the jet by their collar. metro.co.uk/2019/05/06/air-s…
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DEBATE:
@gromerjeffers to Gov. @GregAbbott_TX: "You've been in office for seven years. Do you bear any responsibility for crime being up?"
Abbott was asked twice and did not answer, saying bail policies are a problem.
#TXGovDebate
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POLITICAL SOUVENIR: Texas Democrats take home the vertical state sign from the @DemConvention as a political souvenir from the historic night in Chicago. (btw, those signs are heavy.)
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TEXAS POLL:
U.S. Senate race between @tedcruz and @ColinAllredTX is within the margin of error, according to new poll by @UHouston and TSU.
MORE: wfaa.com/mobile/article/news…
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NEW DAD:
Dallas County @JudgeClayJ is a new father. His wife gave birth to healthy twins this morning. Jenkins will greet President @JoeBiden at @DFWAirport and return to the hospital.
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PROPERTY TAX REFUNDS?
Large Texas companies get millions back in property taxes from school districts but homeowners pay more every year.
On this week’s @Yallitics, @BetoORourke cites an example of business not paying its fair share. #txlege
LISTEN: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
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#BREAKING: Dallas County Elections Admin asking a court to let her recount #SuperTuesday results after votes from 44 precincts (on thumb drives) were not originally included in results. She found the thumb drives after the count. Uncertain which precincts and how many votes.
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#BREAKING: Texas breaks the 15-million mark in registered voters. About 1.3M more since the last presidential election.
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NEW: Congressman @ColinAllredTX will speak tonight prime time during the final night of the Democratic National Convention. This morning Allred spoke to the Texas delegation in Chicago and met with delegates.
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Guess who’s RV this is.
Covering politics this Saturday - a @tedcruz campaign stop in Dallas.
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