四虎影院

Five stories that have North Texas talking: Plano engineer accepts the award for 鈥淭he Salesman鈥�; Texas to hear arguments in same-sex marriage case; D-FW sees its hottest winter; and more.

You may know about the Iranian director who boycotted the Academy Awards Sunday night. It was from the 89th annual show. Asghar Farhadi鈥檚 鈥溾�� won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. But he wasn鈥檛 there to accept the award.

Farhadi鈥檚 absence was a silent protest against President Trump鈥檚 travel ban, which barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran. The ban was last month. And the Trump administration is expected to issue a new order this week.

But even a story as big as this has a Texas tie. A Plano-based engineer was the woman who accepted Farhadi鈥檚 award on his behalf. is an Iranian-American engineer, who made history in 2006 as the first self-funded woman to fly to the International Space Station, according to . She is the CEO of Prodea Systems in Richardson. Those accomplishments are what got her to the Oscars, reports. Listen to her read a statement from the director below. [GuideLive, D Magazine]

• Same-sex marriage has been legal for almost two years, but Texas Republicans are still fighting it. The Texas Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments today in a Houston case challenging the city鈥檚 benefits policy for married same-sex couples. Such policies have been in place since the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 landmark 2015 ruling in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges. reports: 鈥淎t the center of the Houston case is whether Obergefell, which legalized same-sex marriage across the country, requires the city and other governmental agencies to extend taxpayer-subsidized benefits to same-sex spouses of government employees.鈥� [The Texas Tribune]

• The Islamic Association of Collin County is moving forward with building a Muslim cemetery despite opposition from residents. Officials in Farmersville approved a conceptual plan Monday for just outside the town. The Islamic association presented a similar plan two years ago but never developed a more detailed proposal, The Associated Press reports. Muslim leaders say there are some five Muslim cemeteries in North Texas, and they need more space. Residents in opposition say the cemetery would lead to a mosque or a training center that would allow extremists into the region. [The Associated Press]

• Dallas-Fort Worth just closed the book on the hottest February and winter season ever.  The  National Weather Service in Fort Worth considers meteorological winter to run from Dec. 1 to Feb. 28, according to the . The average temperature for that time period this year was 53.8 degrees. February was even warmer. The average temperature was 60.6. Another record set this winter? There were 14 days that reached 80 degrees, according to the Star-Telegram. That breaks the previous record of 10 days set in both the winters of 1908-1909 and 2005-2006. Try to stay cool, North Texas. [National Weather Service, Fort Worth Star-Telegram]

• What鈥檚 more fun for teenagers than eating and hanging out at Whataburger? Stealing the orange and white order numbers. That鈥檚 news to police in Cross Roads, a small Denton County town. 鈥淲e have learned that it has become a game for area teens to be removing the plastic 鈥榦rder numbers鈥� from the restaurant when in attendance,鈥� the said in a Facebook post. And the Whataburger off U.S. 380 has to keep replacing them, the reports. 鈥淏ecome a game?鈥� one person commented on the post. 鈥淟ol. This has been happening for years.鈥� [Fort Worth Star-Telegram]