Five stories that have North Texas talking: Schools ask, 鈥淲hat if?鈥�, parents and activists speak out, the DMN supports gay marriage and more.
- of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn., begin today. More than a few teachers in Texas return to classrooms on little sleep, anticipating questions from confused kids -- as anyone scanning Facebook over the weekend knows. But sadness isn鈥檛 the only element of this disaster that spread to North Texas.
- School districts in DFW are looking at implementing everyday security measures and lockdown policies at elementary schools that were once reserved for those with older kids. At Dallas ISD, for instance, officials may start assigning a police officer to an elementary school, as they鈥檝e already done at all district middle and high schools. In Newtown, informal memorials and vigils were held all weekend. President Obama attended one of them at Newton High School, sharing prayers and love of a nation. NPR's Bill Chappell And NPR's Russell Lewis shared what the , one of 20 children killed, mean to the family who mourns her.
- As more information about surfaced, a stream of opinions on gun control and mental illness was impossible to duck. Liza Long told her story of parenting a young teen prone to erratic violence -- whom she drove to a mental hospital just days before Lanza killed his mother -- in an article for the Huffington Post called 鈥�.鈥� Long's piece, which recounts her struggles with a teenage son, has become a lightning rod in the discussion between mental health activists and gun control advocates, but what really stands out is her empathy, and her revelations about what it鈥檚 like to fear your own child. []
- The Dallas Morning News came out in support of same-sex marriage this weekend, cheering the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision to hear two pivotal cases: California鈥檚 Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. In an editorial, the paper encouraged 鈥渇undamental American equality before the law.鈥� []
- Been craving some time with the Crawley family? How 'bout a Downton Abbey marathon? 四虎影院 Channel 13 is re-airing Season 1, starting with episode 1 tonight at 8 p.m. Visit 1912 each night at that same time through Thursday. []
