Five stories that have North Texas talking: Lawmakers approve shooting feral hogs from the hot air balloons; the Morning News publishes correction 40 years later; plants are tax-free this weekend; and more.
Texas lawmakers have approved a new way of tackling the growing feral hog population: shooting them from hot air balloons.
requires the state to license hot air balloon hunting to shoot hogs and coyotes. It passed the Senate Wednesday night and now goes to Gov. Greg Abbott for his consideration.
Texas has an estimated two million feral hogs that cause millions of dollars in damage to crops every year, according to The Associated Press. They breed quickly and don鈥檛 have many predators, allowing the population to boom.
The state already allows the shooting of the hogs , which has proven to be an expensive and unsuccessful method. Hot air balloons are quieter and more stable. Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller successfully got the 鈥減ork-chopper鈥� bill through the Legislature in 2011. [The Associated Press, Texas Tribune]
- McKinney and Frisco are two of the fastest-growing cities not just in the state but also the country. That鈥檚 according to population growth measured between July 2015 and July 2016 by the U.S. Census Bureau. Of the top in the country, six are in Texas. Being suburban communities, they grew the fastest because they started out smaller than urban areas, KUT reports. In terms of , San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and Austin are all in the top 10. [KUT, The Texas Tribune]
- Four decades ago today, The Dallas Morning News erroneously called Chewbacca a 鈥淲ookie.鈥� On Thursday, the 40th anniversary of the original Star Wars' release, editors addressed of their past, publishing a correction: "Our review of the original Star Wars, which appeared in The Dallas Morning News on May 26, 1977, incorrectly referred to Chewbacca as a 'Wookie.' The correct spelling, of course, is 'Wookiee.' We regret the error and apologize to the seven-foot-tall hairy alien biped community." [The Dallas Morning News, NPR]
- A Dallas actress who has had success on 鈥淏reaking Bad鈥� is struggling with her theater at home. plays 鈥淔rancesca,鈥� lawyer Saul Goodman鈥檚 secretary in the hit AMC television series and its spinoff, 鈥淏etter Call Saul.鈥� When she鈥檚 not filming, she鈥檚 serves as the co-artistic director at in Dallas. The theater company is currently hopping from venue to venue because it doesn鈥檛 have the money to renovate a million-dollar former tile showroom in the Design District that it . [Texas Monthly]
- Plants and other products that conserve water are tax free through Memorial Day. Technically, all plants are , but horticulturists encourage residents to select native plants to maximize water efficiency. Soil, compost, mulch and other water efficient products like rain barrels qualify during the tax holiday, too. Explore of plants ideal for North Texas鈥� environment. Also, any is tax free. [四虎影院]
The High Five is 四虎影院鈥檚 daily roundup of stories from Dallas-Fort Worth and across the state. . And sign up for for the North Texas news you need to know.
