Five stories that have North Texas talking: West hopes to push past tragedy, a surprising study on Texas drivers, getting Dallas children past nature fears, and more.
- West, Texas Carries On With Annual Festival: West is still recovering from the deadly fertilizer plant explosion that rocked the town back in April, but residents hope that WestFest can take the focus away from the tragedy. The town鈥檚 annual end-of-summer festival opens this weekend and many hope that it will be a time of celebration. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had our memorials,鈥� Brian Muska, a West City Council member, tells . 鈥淲e want Westfest to be Westfest, and we want to celebrate what West is about.鈥�
- Activists Get Creative With Video Game:What is it like for a woman trying to seek an abortion in Texas? Two abortion rights activists want to illustrate just that through a new game. , an assistant professor in digital studies at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and self-described feminist are the developers behind 鈥淐hoice: Texas.鈥� The game will play out the journey through five playable characters as they navigate geography, time, and money to obtain the procedure. []
- Texans Are Actually Driving Less: Driving rates are declining nationally, but it doesn鈥檛 always seem like it here in North Texas. But behold, Texans are actually cutting their driving, a new study suggests. What鈥檚 even more surprising is that the state has the lowest number of vehicle miles traveled per capita out of the South Gulf states. There鈥檚 been a push locally for more public transit: Dallas is , the city of Arlington is and .
- North Texas A Hub For Faith-Based Films?: When Hollywood thinks of North Texas, 鈥楧allas鈥� is probably the first thing to come to mind. But the region may become a center for faith-based filmmaking, reports, as several faith-based companies are moving their headquarters to the area. Experts attribute this to the socially conservative climate and scores of megachurches in North Texas.
- Dallas Kids Apparently Fear Nature: The Dallas Arboretum is opening a children鈥檚 adventure garden next month. The Rory Meyers Children鈥檚 Adventure Garden aims to teach kids about life and earth sciences. Arboretum Vice President Maria Conroy told last week that many Dallas children are afraid of nature because the city is an urban jungle. Yikes. Author Barbara J. King contributes to 鈥檚 Cosmos and Culture blog, and she says she can sympathize with those kids.
