Le Journal

Dallas City Councilman Adam Bazaldua put to rest any speculation of a run for Congress on Monday, the last day to file for the upcoming March primary. Bazaldua said his priorities remain in Dallas and that there are too many critical decisions and pending projects to leave his post. “From the speculation and conversations happening about my potential congressional run, it’s important to me that I make clear my commitment to the residents of District 7 and the City of Dallas,” Bazaldua said. “After putting in consistent work for six and a half years, we have too many critical decisions and pending projects to change leadership or leave this post.” Bazaldua said there should be no question where his priorities lie, and he’s committed to continuing to fight for his constituents in District 7. “I’m looking forward to the many successes our district has to look forward to over the next two years. While I thank everyone for the outpour of support I have received about running for Congress, there is still so much left to fight for locally,” Bazaldua said. “The work isn’t done, and I look forward to serving you for the next two years.”

World Cup fever is soaring at Soccer City in Frisco. The specialized soccer merchandise store is beginning to stock up on official World Cup gear. The shop’s back wall is dedicated to the eight countries that have claimed World Cup glory, including reigning champ Argentina. Key figures from each country are also displayed, from Pele to Lionel Messi. James Stiglets hopes the global tournament, as well as Frisco’s prime location (home of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and FC Dallas Toyota Stadium), will help save his store on Main Street. The first batch of games announced over the weekend has renewed hope that business will pick up, especially knowing Argentina will be playing at least two games at AT&T Stadium, which will temporarily be called Dallas Stadium during the World Cup. Soccer City is among dozens of locally owned businesses affected by the city of Frisco’s Main Street improvement project. “It’s been a very difficult 18 months, so we’ve got a lot to make up in the next six months to a year,” said Stiglets. For months, Rail District merchants have publicly spoken out, accusing the city of ‘poor planning’ and not providing the kind of financial support they need. Several merchants say tearing up the two-lane street for an extended period of time cut off easy access to businesses and drove customers away, leading to plummeting sales. Many continue to criticize the project, years in the making, aimed at improving walkability by removing some on-street parking and reconstructing the two-lane street. Assistant City Manager Ben Brezina provided NBC 5 with an update on the project and help provided to dozens of small merchants in the neighborhood. “We’ve invested $1.4 million to help downtown the Rail District businesses,” he said. “The plaza and the parking garage will be under construction through May of next year, so very excited about the construction on Main Street wrapping up.” Public funding has gone directly to promoting businesses, providing temporary parking areas and grants for beautification projects and a gift card program. “It’s not an easy project, but again, the light is at the end of the tunnel and we’re almost done,” said Brezina. The gift card program has been a source of contention for many business owners who insist that the program, providing $50 gift cards (physical cards and later digital cards), has had little to no impact on their businesses. Stiglets estimates the gift cards have accounted for about $2,000 of business. When asked what percentage of the over $600,000 Brezina says was earmarked for the gift card program has been redeemed by recipients, the city leader said about ($250,000) 35% of the cards have been redeemed. He anticipates a lot more will be redeemed in the coming weeks as the cards expire in January. The city insists the gift card program is working and will therefore circle back in 2026. “We’ll probably do another round this summer after we have our grand opening for the plaza and the garage,” said Brezina. “All things World Cup this year, 2026, so look for another round of digital gift cards this summer.” Moving forward, Stiglets is keeping any concerns or specific criticism to himself and says he’s just glad his portion of Main Street is finally open. “It’s a new day,” said Stiglets. “We have the holiday season, we have World Cup coming. We hope that people in Frisco, DFW surrounding areas make their way back to the area and support the local businesses that have endured the last 18 months.” To keep up with the latest developments in the Rail District revitalization project and businesses in the area, click here.

The mother of a 3-year-old boy and her boyfriend are facing capital murder charges after the woman’s son died on Sunday. The boy had been hospitalized in critical condition since October for several injuries that police say were the result of physical abuse. McKinney Police said Tuesday that Dawson Zamora was taken off life support and was pronounced deceased at 10:42 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 7. On Oct. 14, McKinney Police were called to Medical City McKinney by hospital staff who said a boy’s injuries were inconsistent with the explanation provided by the man who brought him to the hospital. Hospital staff reported the child had severe brain trauma, bleeding in the brain, bruising in various states of healing over his body and wounds to his chest, stomach and genitalia. An arrest warrant affidavit obtained by NBC 5 said 30-year-old Christopher Thomas Alexander brought an unresponsive child to the hospital with serious injuries. According to the document, he said he found the child after hearing a “thud.” Chelsea Berg, left, and Christopher Thomas Alexander, right. The boy’s mother, 31-year-old Chelsea Berg, told police she left the child with Alexander at about 7:20 a.m. and later received a text saying the child was eating lunch. Berg said Alexander called her in a panic after lunch and said he was taking the child to the hospital. When Berg arrived at the hospital, she told police Alexander told her about the “thud” and offered no other explanation for what happened. The woman was shown photos of her son’s injuries, and “she was adamant he did not have those injuries when she left work and left him in Alexander’s care.” Alexander and Berg were both charged with felony injury to a child. She was freed after posting $100,000 bond. In addition to the injury charge, Alexander was charged with tampering with evidence after investigators said he knowingly attempted to clean a crime scene after the child was harmed. After the child died on Sunday, the charges for the injury to a child against both Berg and Alexander were changed to capital murder of a person under 10. Alexander has been in custody since his arrest on Oct. 14. Berg was rearrested on Dec. 8. Bond amount on the murder charge has not yet been set for either Berg or Alexander, and it’s unclear if either has an attorney to speak on their behalf.

Arlington ISD asked the Texas Education Agency to regrade STAAR tests at several campuses after A-F scores were released earlier this year. The results show 38 schools did better than first thought, six of them improving an entire letter grade, and the district’s overall grade increased by one point. TEA uses an automated system to grade STAAR, which many school district leaders have called AI and have been highly critical of the system’s ability to grade essays. Arlington ISD Superintendent Matt Smith started with the district nearly two years ago and, from the star,t has questioned the grades his schools received. TEA allows schools to ask to have humans regrade the test, but if the schools are wrong, they have to pay the bill for the retesting. Smith took the risk, and in every test they asked a human to grade again, the result showed a higher score than what the automated system gave. The point changes were minor in many instances, only changing by a point or two, but in several cases, they raised the school’s score an entire letter grade. Arlington High School went from a C to a B. Berry Elementary is no longer an F school and is now a D. Smith said this shows there is value in the appeals process, but he stands by his concerns about the process the state uses to hold schools accountable.

If you saw smoke in south Fort Worth on Tuesday, there was no need for concern.  A field was actually burned on purpose. “We’re basically replicating the natural disturbance regime by burning it periodically to maintain the health of the area,” Fort Worth Park and Recreation Department Natural Resource Manager Jared Hall said. He oversaw a prescribed burn on prairie fields at the Rolling Hills Tree Farm. He explains that the process offers a lot of benefits over mowing or herbicides. “This helps keep the invasive species that are not good for wildlife and pollinators out, and so we’re basically making sure that the good plants stay here and that they thrive,” Hall said. It also reduces the dead plant material that can fuel wildfires while adding nutrients back to the soil from the ash. Even though this was a controlled burn, the weather can still change plans in an instant. “We had one more little piece on the far west edge of the property that we had originally hoped to burn, the wind directions a little slightly off from what was forecasted, and so we opted not to burn that, just in risk of getting smoke close to homes,” Hall said. Tuesday’s burn was supposed to happen a few months ago, but it was postponed with wildlife preservation in mind. “This is a pretty cool stopover area when the monarchs migrate through,” Hall said. “And that’s actually why we waited. We were originally planning to do this kind of late summer, early fall, around September, which coincided with the flowers and the monarchs. And so, we delayed that until all the flowering was done, the monarchs had moved out to then burn it.” Fort Worth Park and Recreation has done prescribed burns since 1980.