Fort Worth - Global pulse News
  • Guy charged with threatening FBI representative who had actually been associated with Hunter Biden laptop computer examination

    Guy charged with threatening FBI representative who had actually been associated with Hunter Biden laptop computer examination

    FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A Texas guy has actually been charged with supposedly threatening an FBI unique representative who had actually been associated with an examination into the dissemination of individual information from Hunter Biden’s laptop computer, federal district attorneys stated Thursday.

    Timothy Muller supposedly called the FBI representative Tuesday soon after a federal jury in Delaware revealed its guilty decision versus Hunter Biden. President Joe Biden’s child was founded guilty of 3 felonies in a federal weapon trial.

    The representative — who is based in Baltimore — hung up, district attorneys stated in a press release, and Muller recalled and threatened the representative and his household in a voicemail that lasted more than a minute.

    “You can run, however you can’t (curse) conceal,” Muller supposedly stated to the representative.

    Muller supposedly continued that previous President Donald Trump would win reelection, “and after that we’re gonna (curse) go through the FBI and simply begin tossing you (curse)s into prison. Or, you can take another election, and after that the weapons will come out, and we’ll hunt you (curse)s down and massacre you like the traitorous canines you remain in your own (curse) homes.”

    After leaving the voicemail, Muller then sent out a number of text to the representative, consisting of: “How’s the household? Safe?” and “Did you (curse)s actually believe you were going to disenfranchise 75 million Americans and not pass away? Lol.”

    The unique representative’s name was not revealed.

    Muller, 43, of Fort Worth, Texas, is charged with interstate threatening interactions and affecting, hampering or striking back versus a federal authorities. He confronts ten years in jail if he is founded guilty.

    His federal public protector did not right away return an ask for remark Thursday.

    The long-running laptop computer legend started with a New york city Post story in October 2020 that detailed a few of the e-mails it stated were discovered on the gadget associated to Hunter Biden’s foreign service transactions. It was quickly taken on by Trump as a project problem throughout the governmental election that year.

    The Wilmington, Delaware, computer system service center owner has actually stated Hunter Biden dropped a laptop computer off at his shop in April 2019 and never ever went back to select it up. The owner, John Paul Mac Isaac, confessed in his 2022 book to examining personal and delicate product from Biden’s laptop computer, consisting of a file entitled “income.pdf.” He later on called Republican politicians to evaluate and share the product.

  • ‘River of Death’? The Trinity in Fort Worth has gone by many names, some not flattering

    ‘River of Death’? The Trinity in Fort Worth has gone by many names, some not flattering

    Our Uniquely Fort Worth stories celebrate what we love most about Cowtown, its history & culture. Story suggestion? Editors@star-telegram.com.

    The muddy Trinity River by any other name would still be muddled in history.

    Efforts to revive the river’s Native American name led some advocates of Indigenous rights to announce in 2018 that the river meandering from North Texas to Galveston Bay was initially called the Arkikosa. The word was supposedly a Caddo term meaning a river so clean and pure, it was a perfect “place to wash your face” — an ironic twist on later epithets deriding the water quality. D Magazine’s arts editor embraced the term and advocated revising local maps.

    Four years later in 2022, language preservationists from the Caddo Nation determined their ancestral language lacked the letter “R” sound. Arkikosa was likely a corruption or misspelling of the word Akokisa. In the vernacular of another tribe, the Atakapa who settled in the Gulf Coast woodlands, Akokisa means “river people.”

    “This is where things get complicated,” says Annette Anderson, who serves on TCU’s Native American Advisory Circle and the council for the Indigenous Institute of the Americas, a Plano-based nonprofit.

    “One article gets it wrong or has not been updated, and it gets quoted over and over on the internet,” Anderson said. “The Caddo Nation has a language department in Oklahoma that will be happy to validate that for you. The river has always been sacred to native people since before time was recorded. Each nation had a language and a unique view for referencing the river. Our histories are very complicated.”

    Research continues not only into the river’s indigenous names but into its environs. In downtown Fort Worth, at the confluence of the Trinity’s West Fork and Clear Fork, naturalists have documented 57 species of butterflies and moths, 24 kinds of fish, 23 species of dragonflies and damsel flies, 49 species of birds, and 35 types of ants, wasps and bees.

    Each of these, plus 109 native plants, are posted at iNaturalist.org, thanks to biologist Andrew Brinker, a Tarrant County College adjunct professor and Fort Worth ISD science teacher. With high school biology students and a grant from TCU, he also documented seven species of turtles from soft shells to snappers and sliders.

    Throughout the Trinity River’s recorded history, the waterway has been called many names — most often insulting epithets such as the Big Ditch. During the past five decades, there has been a gradual turnaround. A river once deemed “septic” by the U.S. Public Health Service now has a 120-mile paddling trail, 21 canoe launches, outdoor festivals and Independence Day fireworks. In 2020, it was designated a National Recreation Trail by the National Park Service.

    Dating back to European colonization, French explorer La Salle in 1687 named the waterway the “River of Canoes.” Three years later, Spanish explorer Alonso de Leon christened it “La Santisma Trinidad,” the “Most Holy Trinity.” He was convinced that self-sufficient natives living in the watershed’s forests were ripe for Catholic missionizing.

    In contemporary times, secular souls often assume the river was named for the three forks that converge into the main trunk of the Trinity — the Elm Fork, Clear Fork and West Fork. That’s mere coincidence, because de Leon never reached this far north and was likely unaware of the three forks. Paddling guides call the region Three Forks Country, says Charles Allen, owner of Oak Cliff’s Trinity River Expeditions.

    In the 1920s, the Trinity was infamously dubbed a “River of Death,” because the Swift and Armour slaughterhouses in the Fort Worth Stockyards dumped beef carcasses and blood into Marine Creek, a Trinity tributary.

    Other tributaries were undisturbed. Oilman Tex Moncrief remembered skinny-dipping at a swimming hole on the West Fork. Artists Stuart and Scott Gentling hunted with bows and arrows for herons, egrets and woodland ducks — an illegal pastime. The brothers painted detailed pictures, a la Audubon, for their 1986 book “Of Birds and Texas,” a collector’s item.

    From Dallas’ earliest days, politicians tried to extract profit from the river by transforming it into a shipping canal with locks and deep, straight channels. Repeatedly, deadly floods washed out the dream of turning Big D into a lucrative port. Among the worst floods was the deluge of 1908 that swept outhouses, sheds, livestock and railroad trestles downstream.

    In Fort Worth, the most destructive flood on record was May 16-17, 1949. In its wake, 13,000 people were left homeless. One-tenth of the city was underwater. Horses stood stranded on rooftops. Ten people perished. The high-water mark rose to the second floor of Montgomery Ward on West Seventh Street, today’s Montgomery Plaza.

    May 19, 1949: An aerial view of Fort Worth, looking east along West Seventh Street toward Trinity River. This view shows both the Montgomery Ward store on the left of the corridor, and the U-shaped former Chevrolet assembly plant to the right across West Seventh. The plant in 1949 was being used as a Frigidaire sales and warehouse facility.

    May 19, 1949: An aerial view of Fort Worth, looking east along West Seventh Street toward Trinity River. This view shows both the Montgomery Ward store on the left of the corridor, and the U-shaped former Chevrolet assembly plant to the right across West Seventh. The plant in 1949 was being used as a Frigidaire sales and warehouse facility.

    About 150 cars were swept from the Packard Motor Co. at 2400 W. Seventh St. during the May 1949 flood of the Trinity River. At least 10 people were killed and 13,000 left homeless during one of the worst floods in the city’s history.About 150 cars were swept from the Packard Motor Co. at 2400 W. Seventh St. during the May 1949 flood of the Trinity River. At least 10 people were killed and 13,000 left homeless during one of the worst floods in the city’s history.

    About 150 cars were swept from the Packard Motor Co. at 2400 W. Seventh St. during the May 1949 flood of the Trinity River. At least 10 people were killed and 13,000 left homeless during one of the worst floods in the city’s history.

    The Army Corps of Engineers responded by straightening and channelizing the Trinity, cutting down trees, and raising levees to contain future floods. The city turned its back on the river, ignoring litter and laughing at the designation “Big Ditch.” During years of drought in the 1950s, the river did not flow. There were only stagnant pools.

    In 1969, the dynamic Phyllis Tilley organized a Trinity River bus tour for Junior League volunteers, civic leaders and elected officials.

    “We’ve got to clean this up,” declared Tilley, in whose memory the Phyllis J. Tilley Pedestrian Bridge was constructed in 2012.

    Her efforts led to the creation of Streams and Valleys Inc., a nonprofit that works with Fort Worth Parks & Recreation and other partners to beautify the river, develop recreational amenities and plan low-water dams.

    In 1971, there were three miles of trails along the river, mainly for maintenance vehicles. These days, hikers, bikers, joggers, rollerbladers, pedestrians, horseback riders and drivers steering scooters and Segways enjoy 72 miles of trails. Life along the river thrives, no matter what it’s called, how it’s spelled, or what its name implies.

    The Phyllis J. Tilley Memorial Pedestrian Bridge over the Trinity River in August 2012, when it was nearing completion.The Phyllis J. Tilley Memorial Pedestrian Bridge over the Trinity River in August 2012, when it was nearing completion.

    The Phyllis J. Tilley Memorial Pedestrian Bridge over the Trinity River in August 2012, when it was nearing completion.

    Author and archivist Hollace Ava Weiner has had a season’s rental pass at TC Paddlesports at Panther Island since 2021.

    Source link

  • Fort Worth woman who falsely believed her mom was abusing child pleads guilty to murder

    Fort Worth woman who falsely believed her mom was abusing child pleads guilty to murder

    A woman who, according to her defense attorneys, was suffering from a severe mental illness when in November 2020 she shot her mother to death in south Fort Worth on Monday pleaded guilty to murder.

    When she killed her mother, Izehi Enabulele was under the misguided belief that her mother had been abusing a grandchild, according to the attorneys.

    Enabulele was sentenced in the 396th District Court in Tarrant County to 18 years in prison under an agreement with the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.

    Patsy Morgan, who was 53, was in bed when Enabulele shot her with a pistol.

    Enabulele asked to be handcuffed when police arrived at the homicide scene, a house in the 8400 block of Orleans Way, but never told officers what had happened, according to an arrest warrant affidavit written by Fort Worth Police Department Homicide Unit Detective Tom O’Brien. Enabulele, who was 26 when the killing occurred, is 30.

    A person who is described in the affidavit as Izehi Enabulele’s sister told O’Brien that she was in her room watching a movie when she heard a gunshot. Police redacted the person’s name from the document.

    When she opened the door to her room, she saw Izehi walking upstairs with a handgun in her hand. The suspect’s sister told O’Brien that Izehi told her that she shot their mom.

    The suspect’s sister said that she took the gun from Izehi, went to check on Morgan and found her with blood coming from her head and unresponsive.

    After Morgan was shot but before police arrived, Izehi asked her sister to take her somewhere so she “didn’t get in trouble by the police.”

    Izehi said that “she shot their mother because she did it for their father,” according to her sister’s account that is described in the affidavit.

    Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Matt Rivers prosecuted the case.

    Defense attorneys Christy Jack and Audrey Hatcher were appointed to represent Enabulele.

    At the time of the killing, Enabulele was delusional and truly believed she was protecting her son, Jack and Hatcher wrote in response to a reporter’s inquiry.

    “She was trapped inside her own mind,” the defense attorneys wrote.

    “Our legislature enacted a wide range of punishment for good reason. Plea negotiations and agreements are based upon years of experience and witnessing first-hand what juries will do when confronted with mental illness in the commission of a crime.”

    If Enabulele had at trial been found guilty of murder and elected to have a jury assess punishment, the panel would have been directed to deliberate on a prison term of five to 99 years or life.

    “Izehi was a single mother and a former teacher. She also had no previous criminal history. She has always wanted to accept responsibility and never wished to put the family through a trial,” Jack and Hatcher wrote. “There is no one that blames her more than she blames herself.”

    Source link

  • Crowley school board voter’s guide: Here’s who’s on the ballot for Place 3 on May 4

    Crowley school board voter’s guide: Here’s who’s on the ballot for Place 3 on May 4

    Crowley school board voter’s guide: Here’s who’s on the ballot for Place 3 on May 4

    Source link

  • Man shot wife to death in Fort Worth, police say; her body was found wrapped in tarp

    Man shot wife to death in Fort Worth, police say; her body was found wrapped in tarp

    A 33-year-old man last week shot to death his wife, whose body was found wrapped in a blue tarp in a bedroom inside the couple’s south Fort Worth house, police said.

    Christopher Robertson admitted during an interview with two Fort Worth Police Department homicide detectives that he shot Kristlynne Robertson, 34, one time and said he wanted to go to jail, according to the affidavit supporting the arrest warrant in the case.

    The suspect handed the detectives a gun that he had on him and said it was the gun he used to shoot his wife, according to the affidavit.

    The suspect’s brother found Kristlynne Robertson dead on Friday about 9:30 p.m. at the house in the 5500 block of Whitman Avenue.

    After being away for several days, the suspect’s brother arrived at the house and found Christopher Robertson extremely intoxicated, smelled a foul odor and saw the body, according to the affidavit.

    Kristlynne Robertson was shot once in the left side of her face below her eye, according to the affidavit.

    On Saturday, Christopher Robertson called 911. According to the affidavit, he told the call-taker: “My father-in-law is going to kill me. I actually killed his daughter. I killed his daughter.”

    Police arrested Christopher Robertson on suspicion of murder.

    Source link

  • Botched rollout of redesigned FAFSA leads to steep filing declines for Fort Worth students

    Botched rollout of redesigned FAFSA leads to steep filing declines for Fort Worth students

    In a typical year, most of Lindsey Hernandez’s students would know by now where they were going to college next year.

    But for high school counselors across the country, this year has been anything but typical. Delays and technical glitches have plagued the rollout of the newly redesigned federal financial aid application, holding up the application process for some students and keeping others from applying at all.

    Hernandez, a counselor at Timber Creek High School in the Keller Independent School District, said many of her students are struggling to get their forms submitted. Students and their parents have had to navigate glitches that lock certain families out of the portal, and a system that seems to shut down for no reason at all, she said.

    “It’s just been a pretty frustrating process,” she said.

    In Fort Worth and across Texas, the botched rollout of the redesigned Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, has led to sharp declines in the number of high school seniors applying for financial aid. With just weeks left before the end of the school year, high school counselors and college attainment advocates are growing concerned that delays and technical issues will derail the college plans of thousands of students.

    Fort Worth FAFSA filings down 44%

    As of April 5, just 38.4% of seniors in Fort Worth high schools had completed the FAFSA, according to U.S. Department of Education data compiled by the National College Attainment Network. That’s a 44% decline from last year, according to the network.

    The picture is comparable across the state: 31.3% of Texas seniors submitted a FAFSA by April 5, a 41.3% decline from last year, according to the network.

    While those filing declines spanned all categories of high schools in the state, they were steepest in schools with large concentrations of students of color and students from low-income families. Declines were slightly higher in schools in large cities and small towns than they were in suburban and rural campuses.

    Timber Creek, which is located in north Fort Worth near Alliance Airport, had seen a 46% decline in FAFSA completions by April 5 compared with last year, according to the college completion network. Hernandez said most of her families who haven’t filed are in one of two situations: They haven’t been able to submit because of the confusion around the newly revamped system, or they submitted an application but have had to wait to go back and correct some minor error, like a missing signature.

    In a typical year, families wouldn’t have to wait to make those kinds of corrections, she said. But this year, the system didn’t allow filers to fix errors right away. Education Department officials said families would be able to begin making corrections this week, but Hernandez said that too has been unpredictable. Some families have told her they’ve been able to make those edits, while others are still locked out.

    There are several variables that can make the process easier or harder for families. For months, a technical glitch has blocked families in which one or both parents don’t have a Social Security number from applying. But Hernandez said the portal also seems to work better on some days than others, for no obvious reason. That issue was thrown into sharp relief during the four FAFSA completion nights the school hosted — each with a different outcome.

    “One night, everything worked great, everyone that came (was) able to submit,” she said. “And then one night it was just a disaster and no one could get past certain things.”

    Timber Creek senior left waiting for college award letters

    Even students who have submitted their FAFSAs still have to contend with delays. Earlier this year, Education Department officials announced that colleges and universities wouldn’t get FAFSA data until several weeks later than usual, meaning they had to push back their timelines for getting award letters out to applicants.

    Evelyn Nabil, a senior at Timber Creek, has been accepted into several colleges, but hasn’t gotten financial aid award letters from any. In a typical year, she’d have to make a decision about where she’d enroll by May 1. But colleges have pushed that deadline back this year to give students more time to decide.

    Nabil said the process was frustrating. She would start the application only to have the system shut down while she was midway through. Each time, she’d have to start the process over, she said. All told, the application took about three days to fill out.

    During those three days, she made daily trips to Hernandez’s office to get help figuring out what she needed, then called her parents to have them track down some piece of information to enter into the form, she said. At the same time, she was trying to stay on top of a full slate of rigorous classes and still make it to tennis practice after school, she said.

    Nabil plans to pursue a pre-med degree and eventually become a doctor. Baylor University is at the top of her list, but she said the financial aid packages each school offers will be a big factor in her decision. Her older brother is already in college, and she knows her family’s budget will only stretch so far.

    FWISD FAFSA completions down 50%

    In the Fort Worth Independent School District, about half as many seniors had completed the FAFSA by April 5 compared to the same date last year. Christina Galanis, the district’s director of secondary student engagement, said the verification process colleges use to confirm information students include on the FAFSA is one of the biggest roadblocks this year. That process is always a challenge, she said, but the delayed release of the new form shortened the window for students to get everything done.

    Most of the students in the district who have completed the form are still waiting for financial aid award letters from various colleges, Galanis said. As deadlines to enroll approach, she said she expects to see a smaller number of students go to college in the fall, because they won’t be able to make a decision in time. She also suspects a large number of students will opt to start out at a community college instead of going to a four-year school. For students who have to make a decision without a complete financial aid picture, community colleges will present a less risky option because they’re less expensive than a four-year school, she said.

    Fort Worth ISD’s last day of school is a little more than a month away. But Galanis said students who haven’t been able to complete their FAFSAs by then won’t be left to figure the form out on their own. The district is working with the T3 Partnership to offer college advising through the summer, she said. Students will be able to work with advisors to finish their FAFSAs, and also on other things like residence hall applications, meal plans and meningitis shots. The district will keep its on-campus college readiness centers open throughout the summer for students who need in-person help, she said.

    Students can file for financial aid after graduation

    Most colleges and universities across the country, including all public schools in Texas, have pushed their deadlines back in response to the FAFSA delays. But there’s a limit to how much colleges can delay those deadlines, said Bill DeBaun, senior director of data and strategic initiatives for the National College Attainment Network. They still need to set course schedules and make decisions about residence halls, he said, and they can’t make those plans without an enrollment count for the upcoming semester.

    Students who haven’t completed the application yet could be in danger of seeing their college plans deferred if they don’t do it soon, DeBaun said. Students who don’t submit the application by June 30 are less likely to go to college the following fall or go on to earn a degree, he said.

    It’s important that graduating seniors understand that they can continue to apply for financial aid through the summer, DeBaun said. The problem is that they won’t have the same access to help once they graduate, he said. While students are in school, counselors are always on hand to answer questions and help them navigate roadblocks. But in most cases, there’s no one to assist them once they graduate.

    In the years to come, the new, simplified FAFSA format may reduce the need for counselors to walk students through each step of the process, DeBaun said. For a relatively small subset of students, this year’s application process went more smoothly than ever. Some families reported finishing the form in as little as 15 minutes.

    But for other families, the process has been a huge source of frustration, DeBaun said. Technical glitches made the process more complicated than ever, he said, and the delayed rollout drastically reduced the amount of time families had to get through the application.

    Assuming federal education officials eventually get those issues worked out, most students will likely have an easier time with the application process, DeBaun said. If that happens, it could mean more students applying for financial aid and ultimately going to college, he said.

    The botched FAFSA rollout isn’t the only change affecting college admissions this year. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, effectively ending affirmative action in college admissions nationwide.

    DeBaun said it’s difficult to separate how those two issues have contributed to the decline in FAFSA filings this year. In a broad sense, the two changes do the same thing, he said: They lead many low-income, non-white and first-generation students to ask whether they belong in a college classroom.

    “If it is not a resounding yes, oftentimes, they hear no,” he said.

    Source link

  • Motorcyclist killed in crash that closed Fort Worth highway for hours Wednesday morning

    Motorcyclist killed in crash that closed Fort Worth highway for hours Wednesday morning

    A fatal motorcycle crash early Wednesday morning closed Texas 121 to traffic for several hours, according to Fort Worth police.

    Shortly after 1:15 a.m., officers responded to the single-vehicle accident on State Highway 121 at North Beach Street in central Fort Worth.

    The Fort Worth Fire Department and MedStar provided medical care, but the motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the accident scene, police said in a news release.

    The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office will identify the motorcyclist once next of kin have been notified.

    All northbound lanes of Texas 121 were closed to traffic while police investigated. The lanes reopened shortly before 9 a.m., police said.

    Traffic investigators are asking any witnesses with video or other information about the crash to call the Fort Worth Police Department non-emergency line at 817-392-4222. Tipsters can remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County at 817-469-8477.

    Source link

  • Rally gathers in downtown Fort Worth to bring awareness to unsolved cold cases

    Rally gathers in downtown Fort Worth to bring awareness to unsolved cold cases

    Relative to about a thousand cold cases that are being investigated at the Fort Worth Police Department, only six have been solved, according to the FWPD Cold Case Support Group.

    Notable solved cases in Fort Worth include those of Carla Walker and Melissa Brown, formerly known as Melissa Highsmith. Walker was 17 when she was kidnapped, raped, and killed by Glen McCurley on Feb. 17, 1974. McCurley was sentenced to life in prison in 2021. Brown was kidnapped as a baby in Fort Worth in 1971 and was reunited with her family in November 2022.

    The developments in Walker’s and Brown’s cases have brought closure to their families and hope for others. But with the many cold cases that have gone on without leads there is much more work to be done in the Fort Worth police’s cold case unit, says Kelli Arnold.

    “It’s not just one family, it’s so many families,” said Arnold, who gathered a rally — outside the Tarrant County Courthouse on Saturday morning — to bring attention to cold cases.

    “I would like for our community to understand what a big issue this is. … It doesn’t just affect the people here today, it affects future generations, because when you stop the people who have killed these people, then you’re preventing somebody else’s.”

    Family members of victims involved in cold cases rally and march in front of the Tarrant County Courthouse in downtown Fort Worth on Saturday, April 13, 2024. The Fort Worth Police Department has around 1,000 cold cases unsolved. The rally calls for the city to bring more resources to the department’s cold case unit to help solve cases.

    Family members of victims involved in cold cases rally and march in front of the Tarrant County Courthouse in downtown Fort Worth on Saturday, April 13, 2024. The Fort Worth Police Department has around 1,000 cold cases unsolved. The rally calls for the city to bring more resources to the department’s cold case unit to help solve cases.

    Tawnya Thomas was one of the many people who gathered outside the courthouse. Like several other families of cold case victims, she will not rest until justice is served in her mother’s case.

    Gloria Choice, Thomas’ mother, was murdered on Dec. 9, 2005. She was beaten to death and was found at a vacant apartment in the Woodhaven neighborhood in Fort Worth. Six years later, Michael Leon Davis Jr. was arrested in Choice’s murder, but a week after being taken into custody, he was released from jail due to insufficient evidence to convict him.

    Like Arnold, Thomas believes that anyone with information in Choice’s murder can help close the case.

    “We’re just asking everybody to come forward so we can go ahead and get justice,” said Thomas. “I’m ready for justice now.”

    Arnold, who is an active member of the FWPD Cold Case Support Group, says that funding is still an issue for the police department’s cold case unit. The only funding that the department receives is through the FWPD Cold Case Support group, a non-profit organization that aims to collect donations that go directly to the cold case unit.

    According to the Fort Worth Police Department, there is only one detective assigned to its cold case unit.

    Family members of victims involved in cold cases gather for a cold case rally in front of the Tarrant County Courthouse in downtown Fort Worth on Saturday, April 13, 2024. The Fort Worth Police Department has around 1,000 cold cases unsolved. The rally calls for the city to bring more resources to the departments cold case unit to help solve cases.Family members of victims involved in cold cases gather for a cold case rally in front of the Tarrant County Courthouse in downtown Fort Worth on Saturday, April 13, 2024. The Fort Worth Police Department has around 1,000 cold cases unsolved. The rally calls for the city to bring more resources to the departments cold case unit to help solve cases.

    Family members of victims involved in cold cases gather for a cold case rally in front of the Tarrant County Courthouse in downtown Fort Worth on Saturday, April 13, 2024. The Fort Worth Police Department has around 1,000 cold cases unsolved. The rally calls for the city to bring more resources to the departments cold case unit to help solve cases.

    “You got one cop trying to deal with a thousand cases. That’s just not right,” said Arnold at the cold case rally that gathered on May 4, 2023. “We need to have open conversations about how we can have resolutions.”

    The Fort Worth Police Department Cold Case Unit has not responded to the Star-Telegram’s request for comment.

    The most recent development in funding the cold case unit came when U.S. Sen. John Cornyn announced the Carla Walker Act, the proposed legislation designed to fund DNA research and help solve cold cases.

    “We’re really excited about it,” said Jim Walker, Carla’s brother. “We know it’s going to pass through and we know it’ll be signed into law. … But that’s only half the equation.”

    The Carla Walker Act is aimed to conduct “cutting-edge” forensic genealogy DNA analysis to identify criminals. A quantified DNA profile has to be submitted to the FBIs Combined DNA Index System, but out of submitting 100 profiles, there is only a 2 percent chance of identifying a suspect, let alone the lineage of the suspect, according to Jim Walker.

    Quantifying DNA profiles costs money and resources that the cold case unit does not have enough of, says Jim Walker.

    “We’re really trying to put it all together from cradle to grave to get a lot of this back load. The city of Fort Worth works diligently to solve, get them done,” said Jim Walker.

    Jim Miller, who is in attendance for the death of his sister Carla Walker, says a prayer to the families gathered during the cold case rally in front of the Tarrant County Courthouse in downtown Fort Worth on Saturday, April 13, 2024. The Fort Worth Police Department has around 1,000 cold cases unsolved. The rally calls for the city to bring more resources to the departments cold case unit to help solve cases.Jim Miller, who is in attendance for the death of his sister Carla Walker, says a prayer to the families gathered during the cold case rally in front of the Tarrant County Courthouse in downtown Fort Worth on Saturday, April 13, 2024. The Fort Worth Police Department has around 1,000 cold cases unsolved. The rally calls for the city to bring more resources to the departments cold case unit to help solve cases.

    Beyond funding, the cases lack leads, according to Jim Walker.

    “Law enforcement wants to solve every one of our cases. And this is just our effort to try to help our city. We love our law enforcement, we love our prosecutorial teams,” said Jim Walker. “We know they’re doing warrior’s work, but … they can only do what they can do.”

    But the rally’s gathering isn’t just about raising awareness regarding funding, it’s about showing support for one another, says Jim Walker.

    “That’s one of the wonderful things about this. Supporting each other. Let people know you’re not forgotten. Two: to bring awareness to our community, hoping that somebody will see something and say something,” said Jim Walker.

    He, among other members of the FWPD Cold Case Support Groups, asks anyone with information about a cold case to report it to the Fort Worth police.

    “We’re going to work for getting new results,” said Jim Walker.

    Source link

  • Man who police say shot cousin in the head in Fort Worth in December arrested on murder

    Man who police say shot cousin in the head in Fort Worth in December arrested on murder

    A man who police said shot his cousin to death in east Fort Worth in December was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of murder.

    Joel Miles, 20, was taken into custody in the 1700 block of Coleman Avenue.

    Miles on Dec. 30 shot Jordan Miles, also 20, in the head in the 2900 block of San Rose Drive, Fort Worth police said.

    Police have said Joel Miles fired upon a group of people, then left, possibly in a vehicle.

    Police said they recovered 26 ejected cartridge casings, two handguns and a rifle at the scene.

    A police spokesperson did not respond on Friday to a request for the arrest warrant affidavit in the case.

    Jordan Miles died in the street where he was shot.

    Source link

  • ‘Preying on people’s fears.’ Fort Worth neighborhoods oppose new license plate readers

    ‘Preying on people’s fears.’ Fort Worth neighborhoods oppose new license plate readers

    Carol Peters and her neighbors in the Fort Worth neighborhood of West Meadowbrook do a good enough job of taking care of each other, in her opinion.

    “We keep tabs on each other, as most neighbors do,” said Peters, president of the West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association.

    While most of the homes in her neighborhood are watched over by doorbell and other personal security cameras, Peters opposes recent marketing attempts to install license plate reading cameras over West Meadowbrook streets.

    In recent weeks, she has received multiple emails from a sales representative of Flock Safety, the company contracted by the Fort Worth Police Department to run its license plate reading cameras and Community Camera Program. Critics have called out Flock Safety for its refusal to allow its technology to be subjected to independent third party testing.

    “Burglaries, vehicle, and property theft are all on the rise in Texas and the perpetrators carrying out these crimes are not deterred by typical security measures like CCTV and intruder alarms,” the email read.

    While that statement appears to ring true regarding vehicle thefts, according to the police department’s latest quarterly crime reports, crimes like burglary and stolen property decreased in 2023.

    Peters accused Flock Safety of “preying on people’s fears about crime” to sell its “invasive” surveillance product.

    “We all have those concerns, and we all worry about what’s happening in our neighborhood, but the best defense is to know each other, and to watch what’s going on,” she said. “And if you see something, say something. To me, that’s the best defense.”

    Peters is not the only Fort Worth resident opposed to Flock Safety’s license plate readers in her neighborhood.

    Daniel Haase, a resident of adjacent Central Meadowbrook, said he understands the use of the technology on busier thoroughfares like East Lancaster, but does not think they should be posted on residential streets.

    “I just don’t think they’re appropriate for neighborhoods,” he said. “It’s a little intrusive.”

    Just across Interstate 30 from the Meadowbrook neighborhoods, Linda Fulmer of White Lake Hills said her neighborhood has already gone through one failed experiment with cameras installed at its entrances over 10 years ago.

    The cameras were not Flock Safety cameras. Residents set them up on their own and operated them out of homes near the entrances to White Lake Hills.

    Expecting them to deter or help solve crimes turned out to be “a very naive assumption,” Fulmer said.

    “What was subsequently learned was, number one, cars driving in and out of a neighborhood on a public street are not an indication that they participated in any crime. It doesn’t link the car to the crime scene, so it’s basically useless,” she said. “It’s also a bit of an invasion of privacy, because obviously, the people that live here come and go through those entrances.”

    The cameras gave residents a false sense of security, Fulmer said, leading some to believe that they could leave their cars unlocked and not have any problems.

    After a string of cars and homes being “ransacked,” it was discovered that the culprits were teenagers from the neighborhood apparently taking advantage of people being off their guard.

    “Cameras at the entrance would not have captured them, because after they committed their little mischief, they went home,” she said.

    Fulmer was also recently contacted by a Flock Safety sales representative.

    “I sent her a response saying, you know, don’t bother us, this is stupid,” she said.

    Marketing a false sense of insecurity

    Surveillance and home security companies often try to market their products using a false sense of insecurity, according to Ken Shetter, president of local crime prevention nonprofit One Safe Place.

    “I think it is more common that there is a more heightened sense of crime or violence than what actually occurs,” said Shetter, who also served as the mayor of Burleson from 2004 to 2020.

    Still, people’s perception of safety can carry just as much weight as the realities of that safety.

    “It’s not only important that people are safe, but it’s important that they feel safe, because the fear of violence really is just about as debilitating as violence itself,” he said.

    While he acknowledges the benefits of license plate readers in the hands of public entities such as law enforcement agencies, he called marketing like Flock Safety’s “problematic.”

    “That does raise some privacy concerns, it also raises concerns about how do you have any kind of guarantee that any particular person or group is qualified to employ or utilize the resource?” he said. “It’s important to deal in facts, and if you’re going to communicate some kind of danger or risk, it needs to be based on exactly what’s happening and not on some generalized fear of crime and violence, because that’s not really helpful.”

    Flock Safety spokesperson Holly Beilin said in an email exchange that the kind of cameras marketed to Peters and others cited in this story had the option to be connected to the police department. She did not address residents’ concerns about the company’s sales tactics.

    “Neighborhoods who purchase Flock cameras are able to choose whether they want to share camera access directly with their local PD, or not. It is entirely up to them,” she said.

    The other option is more like a traditional security camera administered by residents and able to provide information to the police in case of incidents, she said. Residents would also have the option to put their license plates on a “Safe List” in order to not be read by the cameras.

    Some Fort Worth neighborhoods welcome license plate readers

    Not all Fort Worth neighborhoods oppose license plate readers. Leaders in the Las Vegas neighborhood attribute reductions in crime rates there to the presence of Flock Safety cameras over their streets.

    “We absolutely support the technology,” said Paige Charbonnet, executive director of the Las Vegas Trail Revitalization Project, in an email exchange.

    Crimes against persons in the area are down 13% and crimes against property are down 12% since 2020, according to Fort Worth city council member Michael Crain, whose district includes the Las Vegas Trail area.

    Other crimes, such as drug offenses, gambling and prostitution, are up about 10%, he said, but he attributed the rise to increased enforcement thanks to the cameras.

    “People change their behavior once they know they’re being watched, and the license plate technology is part of that, obviously,” he said.

    Fort Worth drivers, however, can apparently assume they’re being watched by license plate readers anywhere in the city, as the police department said it does not divulge the locations of the more than 200 cameras that have been installed.

    “We do not publicly release the locations of our cameras, as that would obviously arm criminals with the knowledge they need to avoid apprehension,” said Sgt. Jason Spencer in an email exchange.

    But this expansion of constant surveillance is untenable for residents like Peters, of West Meadowbrook.

    “We’re becoming a society where everyone surveils everyone else, and it’s just kind of getting to the point where you need to demand some privacy,” she said. “And this randomly surveilling license plates that travel through your neighborhood seems a little too much.”

    Source link

  • The Blue Angels return to Fort Worth this weekend

    The Blue Angels return to Fort Worth this weekend

    Inside Look stories give Star-Telegram subscribers exclusive sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes reporting. Story suggestion? Editors@star-telegram.com.

    After the total solar eclipse earlier in the week, there’s yet another occasion upcoming for Fort Worth residents to gaze into the North Texas sky.

    The Blue Angels begin a formation before landing during the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow media day at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.com

    The Blue Angels begin a formation before landing during the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow media day at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.com

    The Blue Angels take to the skies for their Wings Over Cowtown Air Show, their first public air show in DFW since 2020 and their first at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth since 2016 .

    Cdr. Thomas Zimmerman begins to exit his aircraft after landing at the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow media day at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.comCdr. Thomas Zimmerman begins to exit his aircraft after landing at the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow media day at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.com

    Cdr. Thomas Zimmerman begins to exit his aircraft after landing at the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow media day at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.com

    The event will take place April 13 and 14. An elite squadron of airmen will perform their maneuvers from 3 p.m.-4 p.m. and will be accompanied by other performers starting at 11 a.m. The show will also include the F-16 demo team, C-17 West Coast demo team, Trojan Phlyers and others.

    The Blue Angels begin a formation before landing during the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow media day at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.comThe Blue Angels begin a formation before landing during the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow media day at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.com

    The Blue Angels begin a formation before landing during the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow media day at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.com

    The Blue Angels land during the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow media day at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.comThe Blue Angels land during the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow media day at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.com

    The Blue Angels land during the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow media day at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.com

    Cdr. Thomas Zimmerman speaks with the media about flying in the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.comCdr. Thomas Zimmerman speaks with the media about flying in the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.com

    Cdr. Thomas Zimmerman speaks with the media about flying in the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.com

    The Blue Angels begin a formation before landing during the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow media day at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.comThe Blue Angels begin a formation before landing during the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow media day at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.com

    The Blue Angels begin a formation before landing during the ‘Wings over Cowtown’ Blue Angels airshow media day at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Chris Torres/ctorres@star-telegram.com

    Source link

  • New storms to bring more hail, tornado threat, to Dallas-Fort Worth region. Here’s when

    New storms to bring more hail, tornado threat, to Dallas-Fort Worth region. Here’s when

    Expect another string of storms to hit Dallas-Fort Worth later today bringing large hail and damaging winds — possibly even tornadoes — to the area, according to a National Weather Service Fort Worth office report early Tuesday morning.

    Cyclonic air high in the atmosphere — or an upper level low — is slowly headed for North Texas and will surely suck the warm unstable air roiling in our area upward to spawn thunderstorms and heavy rain across an already soaked region. Some areas may see up to 4 inches of rain south of I-20 and east of I-35.

    ““Some of this activity is expected to be severe mainly south of I-20/30 corridors with large hail as the primary threat,” Fort Worth meteorologist Patricia Sanchez wrote on the NWS website. “There is still a threat for damaging winds and tornadoes, especially across the far southern zones where both wind profiles and thermodynamics may support it.”

    Strong to severe storms are possible much of today, with the highest severe chances near and south of the I-20 corridor. Large hail will be the main concern along with a threat for a couple of tornadoes across the far southern zones.
    Strong to severe storms are possible much of today, with the highest severe chances near and south of the I-20 corridor. Large hail will be the main concern along with a threat for a couple of tornadoes across the far southern zones.


    ⚡ More trending stories:

    There’s no ‘better place’ to see April 8 total solar eclipse than in this tiny Texas town.

    In Texas, set your thermostat at 80 when it’s 100 degrees, expert says.

    Groceries at this national chain are the cheapest, study finds.


    This line of storms will finally move east by Tuesday evening and into Wednesday, Sanchez wrote.

    Be aware that this storm can arrive as early as later this morning, and it will linger through most of the day, increasing the threat for flooding across the region, according to the NWS.

    “Additional rounds of heavy rainfall will continue flooding concerns today through Wednesday morning,” the NWS forecast states. “A Flood Watch remains in effect for portions of East/Southeast Texas through 7 a.m. Wednesday.”

    Much of Texas dodged curse of cloud cover during eclipse

    The weather service alerted the region of impending storms they said could arrive mere hours after totality of the solar eclipse Monday. Fears of what the inclement weather could do even forced an eclipse festival in Burnet to shut down hours before the celestial show could unfold.

    The turn in the weather did not arrive in time to ruin stargazers’ plans of watching the rare heavenly event. Many Texas towns on the enviable spine of totality, including Hillsboro, hosted thousands of global tourists as they ooohed and aaahed as the moon slowly eased across the face of a sun that in some places was obscured by fleeting clouds.

    Source link

  • Bad experience with a Fort Worth police officer? You now have a chance to talk it out

    Bad experience with a Fort Worth police officer? You now have a chance to talk it out

    Fort Worth residents who have a rude or unpleasant encounter with a police officer may now get a chance to sit face-to-face with that officer, and could even come out with a new friend in the process.

    The city’s Office of the Police Oversight Monitor has started a mediation program to improve community and police relations.

    The program started April 1 and is entirely voluntary. It gives residents and an officer a chance to have an open dialogue about a lower-level complaint in the presence of a mediator. It is an alternative to disciplinary or legal action for the officer.

    Taylor Davis, the program director, says it provides an opportunity for understanding and empathy between police and the people they serve.

    “The community member may not get the result that they want from a complaint regarding rudeness,” Davis said. “But if they’re able to sit down at the table and really feel heard, they may even learn something from that officer and vice versa.”

    Why Fort Worth has an Office of the Police Oversight Monitor

    The police monitor office was established in 2020 in response to a recommendation from the city’s Race and Culture Task Force 2018 report. It is designed to serve as an impartial check on Fort Worth police.

    The office works independently of the Police Department and is responsible for duties that include monitoring internal police investigations, conducting community-police engagement outreach, and auditing body cam footage and use of force reports. The office does not investigate cases or administer disciplinary actions.

    The Race and Culture Task Force was created after the 2016 arrest of Jacqueline Craig, who was tackled and arrested by an officer. The charges were dropped after body camera footage was leaked. The footage went viral, and Craig settled a lawsuit against the city for $150,000. Craig died from cancer in September 2023.

    In September 2023, Bonycle Sokunbi became director of the Office of the Police Oversight Monitor. She was previously a prosecutor and a deputy independent police monitor in New Orleans, overseeing misconduct and force investigations.

    Sokunbi says she fundamentally believes in accountability, trust and fairness. She wants to make sure that the inner workings of the police department is as transparent as possible.

    “A lot of times when we think of police oversight, we only think about the shooting when someone ends up dead,” Sokunbi told the Star Telegram. “Policing happens in tons of ways, so as soon as we get an inkling of something that we’re paying attention to, before the community’s even concerned about an issue, we’re researching, figuring out best practices and providing recommendations that the police department can consider without being under the lights of a crisis.”

    Sokunbi says one of the biggest wins so far since she arrived is the mediation program.

    Community-Police Mediation Program

    The Office of Police Oversight Monitor researched similar programs around the U.S., including in Baltimore and Miami. After gaining support from the community, Fort Worth Police Department, and Fort Worth Police Officers Association, they began to recruit mediators.

    After two months of recruiting and 27 interviews, the office selected 13 community mediators and four police officer ambassadors.

    The mediators and ambassadors are unpaid volunteers who went through a voluntary 45 hours of training that focused on active listening, empathy, conflict resolution and cultural sensitivity with a 100 percent attendance through its duration.

    Low-level complaints include rudeness, lack of courtesy, unprofessional encounters and poor communication.

    Mediation sessions are contingent upon the amount of complaints each month.

    Community Mediators and police ambassadors conduct mediation training in January as part of the Community-Police Mediation Program.

    Community Mediators and police ambassadors conduct mediation training in January as part of the Community-Police Mediation Program.

    Officer Brittany Jones is a police ambassador. She grew up near Stop 6 on the east side of Fort Worth and wanted to become a police officer so other young girls and women could aspire to do the same.

    Neutrality was the biggest factor in her training. The goal is to break everything down to its simplest form for both the resident and police officer, so they can come to a mutual agreement or understanding.

    She said she believes the program can help her become a better police officer.

    “I want to help other officers understand that this program is not meant to be viewed as negative,” Jones said. “It gives us the opportunity to reconnect with the person that filed a complaint so that we have that healthy conversation instead of going to disciplinary actions.”

    Myeshia Smith is a community mediator and serves as the executive director for Operation Progress Fort Worth, a nonprofit organization serving youth in the Como community.

    Smith said some community mediators did not have a positive perception of the police. After spending time training together, sharing and listening to personal stories, their attitudes changed.

    She wanted to give back to the Fort Worth community and show how mediation allows individuals to be heard, valued and empowered to find resolution during conflict.

    “My hope is that the community becomes aware of the program in the OPOM office, as well as the community sees it as a service for them and as well as police officers, and everyone has an interest in restoring relationships and utilizing the services,” Smith said.

    Sokunbi, the OPOM director, believes an informed community is a safe community.

    She hopes in the future to have more public reports for the community to better understand police policies.

    She wants to take the frustration from a bad encounter at a grocery store or traffic stop and have conversations. Allowing people to use their own words to advocate for themselves — and explain their feelings — can help restore relationships with police.

    “We have to make it to a point in society where we understand that some conflict is healthy,” Sokunbi said. “That we should be able to discuss the issues and not just be mad about the issues, that sometimes change comes from understanding and agreements.”

    Source link

  • New storms with large hail, damaging winds to hit Dallas-Fort Worth. How about tornadoes?

    New storms with large hail, damaging winds to hit Dallas-Fort Worth. How about tornadoes?

    Strong to severe thunderstorms capable of producing large hail and damaging winds are expected in the Dallas-Fort Worth region later on Monday afternoon and into the evening or as soon as a cap — a layer of warm air up high in the atmosphere which suppresses or delays the development of thunderstorms — lifts and pushes eastward a line of storms sitting to the west of the Metroplex, according to a National Weather Service Fort Worth office alert.

    The severe threat through the evening is greatest near and north of I-20,” Fort Worth meteorologist Allison Prater wrote on the NWS website. “Overall, the tornado threat looks to be on the lower side as winds generally stay veered to the south/southwest.”

    Although the potential exists for increased tornado threats in counties to the west of Dallas-Fort Worth as winds intensify, Prater wrote.

    Scattered severe thunderstorms are expected late Monday afternoon into the evening hours. This threat will be greatest north of I-20, but isolated severe storms could develop anywhere in North Texas. Large hail and damaging winds will be the main threats.
    Scattered severe thunderstorms are expected late Monday afternoon into the evening hours. This threat will be greatest north of I-20, but isolated severe storms could develop anywhere in North Texas. Large hail and damaging winds will be the main threats.


    ⚡ More trending stories:

    There’s no ‘better place’ to see April 8 total solar eclipse than in this tiny Texas town.

    In Texas, set your thermostat at 80 when it’s 100 degrees, expert says.

    Groceries at this national chain are the cheapest, study finds.


    The thunderstorms could creep into the area sooner depending on how quickly the cap over the Plains erode Monday afternoon, giving way for the dry line — the boundary between moist air drawn up from the Gulf of Mexico and the drier air blowing across the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico — to commence its march eastward towards the I-35 corridor.

    “The main uncertainty lies in how much heating we are able to observe during that time,” Prater wrote. “There remains a small chance that the cap could erode earlier, and if it did, storms may kick off along our Big Country counties off the dry line.”

    Although the forecast calls for a lower threat of tornado, North Texas is entering its season of severe storms. April through May is when the region sees the most tornadoes touching down. It is also the time for spring beauty as Texas’ state flower, the bluebonnets, blooms along roadsides and pastures.

    The weather service reminds residents to stay informed about tornado watches and warnings through regular updates on local news or a NOAA Weather Radio.

    As this line of storms move through the region, a cold front coming behind it will bring cooler temperatures across North Texas by Tuesday morning, with morning lows in the mid 40s to low 60s.

    “A cold front early Tuesday will bring an end to the early week rain event and begin an extended rain-free period,” the NWS forecast states.

    Here’s an early look at the eclipse sky outlook, which is trending cloudier than normal. A typical April 8th has a 45 percent chance of favorable viewing conditions, while the current outlook for this April 8th has a 25 percent chance for favorable viewing conditions. Confidence is increasing that an active weather pattern may bring moisture and cloud cover with a chance of rain around the day of the eclipse.Here’s an early look at the eclipse sky outlook, which is trending cloudier than normal. A typical April 8th has a 45 percent chance of favorable viewing conditions, while the current outlook for this April 8th has a 25 percent chance for favorable viewing conditions. Confidence is increasing that an active weather pattern may bring moisture and cloud cover with a chance of rain around the day of the eclipse.

    Weather outlook for Dallas-Fort Worth for April 8 total solar eclipse

    The good news: That the region is drying out.

    And the bad news? “Spring storm chances will return during the latter half of the weekend, unfortunately just in time for the long-awaited solar eclipse,” says the weather service.

    Eight days out and it looks like there is a 25% chance the skies over North Texas during the total solar eclipse on April 8 will be covered in clouds.

    Source link

  • Man arrested after leading Fort Worth police on pursuit, burglarizing Arlington house

    Man arrested after leading Fort Worth police on pursuit, burglarizing Arlington house

    A 31-year-old man who was driving erratically led Fort Worth police on a short pursuit before trying to carjack another vehicle in Arlington, and was arrested, according to a news release.

    Daniel Ortiz was driving a silver BMW SUV erratically on eastbound Interstate 30 and Eastchase Parkway, Fort Worth police said in a news release Sunday. Officers tried to pull Ortiz over and he hit two vehicles, prompting officers to initiate a short pursuit that ended two minutes later due to heavy traffic.

    Fort Worth police located the vehicle near a home on Fielder Road near I-30 and established a perimeter, trying to locate the suspect inside the house, according to the release. Arlington police were asked to assist and they received a call reporting someone was trying to carjack a vehicle on the other side of the I-30.

    The report led officers to Ortiz, who was burglarizing a home in the 1700 block of Northwood Court, according to police. The homeowner wasn’t home but knew from security cameras that the suspect was inside. Police called for SWAT and eventually arrested Ortiz.

    Ortiz is charged with evading arrest and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle by Fort Worth police and burglary of a habitation and aggravated assault by Arlington police, according to the news release.

    Source link

  • Pedestrian killed in hit-and-run on West Freeway in Fort Worth, police say

    Pedestrian killed in hit-and-run on West Freeway in Fort Worth, police say

    Investigators in Fort Worth are trying to find out what happened leading up to the death of a pedestrian found Monday morning in the 9600 block of eastbound Interstate 30, according to police.

    Officers were sent to the area of I-30 near Longvue Avenue around 8 a.m. Monday, and they found a woman dead at the scene, according to police. Investigators believe the woman was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

    Police have not announced any arrests or released any details about the suspected vehicle.

    The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office will release the identity of the person killed after next-of-kin has been notified.

    No other details have been released by police, who cited an ongoing investigation.

    Source link

  • Cameras all over Fort Worth are recording us. Who’s watching, and should we worry?

    Cameras all over Fort Worth are recording us. Who’s watching, and should we worry?

    Last July, a license plate-reading camera in Española, New Mexico, misread the 2 on Jaclynn Gonzales’ plate for a 7, incorrectly flagging her car as stolen while she was driving with her 12-year-old sister. Gonzales was 21 at the time.

    The officer who pulled them over, however, did not double check for the machine error before handcuffing the sisters and putting them in the back of his patrol vehicle.

    The experience was terrifying, according to Sheri Raphaelson, an attorney who is representing them and another Española resident in a pair of lawsuits against that city.

    “It was traumatic for all of them,” she said in a phone interview. Española is a high-crime area, but her clients had worked hard to stay out of trouble. “The kids had done everything right. They were in school doing well, no criminal record, and still. Being handcuffed and held at gunpoint by the police is really unfortunate.”

    The camera that misread Gonzales’ plate was manufactured and operated by Atlanta-based Flock Safety, with which the Fort Worth Police Department has also contracted to deploy its automatic license plate recognition cameras and run part of its newly revamped Community Camera Program.

    The Española cases were not isolated incidents. Flock Safety was sued in November by an Ohio man named Michael Smith, who claims that he was wrongfully detained after his license plate was put on a “hot list” that incorrectly identified him as a human trafficking suspect.

    In August 2020, police in Aurora, Colorado, detained a mother, her 6-year-old daughter and three other minors after a license plate reader mistook the plate on her SUV for that of a stolen motorcycle from another state.

    And in October 2022, a police officer in Kechi, Kansas, was arrested after using the Wichita Police Department’s Flock Safety license plate reader database to stalk his estranged wife, prompting concerns about the technology.

    “It can be really useful technology to the police,” Raphaelson said. “But they need to realize they’re getting information from a machine and not from a person, and the machine can make mistakes.”

    A Flock Safety license plate reading camera sits on a pole near Echo Lake in south-central Fort Worth in this photo taken on March 15, 2024. CODY COPELAND/ccopeland@star-telegram.com
    A Flock Safety license plate reading camera sits on a pole near Echo Lake in south-central Fort Worth in this photo taken on March 15, 2024. CODY COPELAND/ccopeland@star-telegram.com

    Can Fort Worth trust license plate cameras?

    There are currently 217 license plate cameras watching Fort Worth streets, and 20 more are set to be deployed soon, according to Sgt. Jason Spencer, a public information officer with the police department.

    The ACLU warned against using surveillance products like Flock Safety’s, citing the company’s refusal to allow the independent technology evaluation and research group IPVM to test its latest technology, as the company’s major competitors have done.

    Based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, IPVM bills itself as the “world’s leading authority on physical security,” and its work has been cited in several major media outlets as an authoritative investigator of claims made by companies using artificial intelligence in surveillance technology. In order to maintain independence, the trade publication does not accept advertising, sponsorships or consulting partnerships from manufacturers.

    Third-party testing is important because it provides police departments and the public with the assurance that the technology works as stated, according to IPVM’s head of operations, Donald Maye.

    “If our team can get into Flock Safety’s interface, see what they’re doing, see how the technology works, we can provide feedback to the public, to stakeholders, that helps them better understand what the system can and can’t do,” Maye said in a phone interview.

    It’s about ensuring transparency in policing, he said.

    “That way when limitations exist, it’s not something that the public or the taxpayer or the police departments that are buying these systems are unaware of, they can go in with a better set of information that isn’t controlled by the company that’s selling the technology,” Maye said.

    IPVM was able to test earlier versions of Flock Safety’s license plate reading technology and found that it was inaccurate around 10% of the time. The site tried to get the software license to test the company’s latest cameras, but Flock Safety refused, initially claiming it was due to product shortages, Maye said. When IPVM found Flock Safety cameras on eBay, the company refused to sell it the software license, claiming that the equipment was stolen.

    Flock Safety spokesperson Holly Beilin said that the company refused IPVM access to its software because of its nature as a machine learning technology that is constantly updating itself with data pulled from real-world events on the street.

    “They’re testing things in a Philadelphia indoor lab. Our cameras aren’t even deployed indoors,” she said in a phone interview. “It’s literally just not accurate to put one of our cameras in a kind of a sterile indoor lab environment and expect that you’re going to get the same kind of results.”

    Maye called the statement “absurd” and incorrect.

    “We’ve tested all of their main competitors. We tested in a real world environment on a street with cars passing by,” he said. “We don’t test the system indoors, we test it on vehicles that are driving by. This fundamentally shows how Flock doesn’t understand why independent testing is important.”

    Flock Safety’s cameras have contributed to reductions in violent crime in places like the Las Vegas Trail neighborhood, Beilin said.

    “Even anecdotally — like finding Amber Alerts, finding kidnapped children, finding missing persons, solving homicides — all these things have been done in Texas and in Fort Worth directly with the help of this technology,” she said.

    Community leaders like Paige Charbonnet, executive director of the Las Vegas Trail Revitalization Project, and Fort Worth council member Michael Crain echoed that praise for the technology and its effect on public safety in the area.

    “People change their behavior once they know they’re being watched,” said Crain in a phone interview. The cameras are part of what he called “a comprehensive policing module” that fills in gaps where police officers can’t always be watching.

    “They obviously can’t be everywhere all the time,” he said. “The technology can and allows us to maybe zero in, when needed, in a very efficient and quick manner.”

    When asked about issues of Flock Safety’s applications in other cities and its refusal to allow its tech to be tested, he said, “Bring me some examples from Fort Worth that are like that, and I’m happy to figure out and address what the issue is.”

    Fort Worth police are likely better trained in the use of the technology than in other cities, he said. Crain gave anecdotes of license plate-reading technology aiding in the arrests of suspects in shootings and lost children in his district.

    He also pointed to doorbell camera footage that contributed to the safe return of an 8-year-old girl kidnapped in Fort Worth in June 2019. Flock Safety’s technology was not used in that case.

    Anecdotes can often shroud broader privacy implications of this kind of technology, according to Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union.

    “Any success has to be celebrated, but you have to be careful making policy by anecdote,” he said in a phone interview. “Beyond the success story that boosters of the technology will point to, you have to ask, well, for every success, how many failures are there?”

    Flock Safety’s technology gives officers real time data that the company says can aid police in solving crimes. Flock SafetyFlock Safety’s technology gives officers real time data that the company says can aid police in solving crimes. Flock Safety

    Flock Safety’s technology gives officers real time data that the company says can aid police in solving crimes. Flock Safety

    How does the Community Camera Program work?

    Since 2016, Fort Worth residents have been able to register their home and business security cameras with the police department’s Neighborhood Camera Program to be consulted in the event of a crime in their area.

    In January, that program was rebranded as the Community Camera Program and expanded to include new ways to participate, one of which includes giving the police access to live feeds of security cameras at businesses.

    So far only nine cameras at local businesses have been registered to stream their live feeds into the city’s Real Time Crime Center, according to Spencer, the police department’s public information officer.

    Over 2,250 Fort Worth residents had registered nearly 8,200 home or business cameras with the police department as of March 9, according to a registry of the program obtained through a public information request. The addresses of the registrants were redacted due to privacy concerns, though their names were not.

    The Community Camera Program “helps responding officers gain real time context before arriving on the scene so they can more safely and successfully respond to incidents” and “gives detectives and investigators the tools they need to solve crimes,” according to the program’s website.

    But private companies giving law enforcement access to live security camera feeds has broad implications for privacy and governmental power, said Stanley, of the ACLU.

    “It’s one thing to have a camera that records if something dramatic goes down, but it’s a whole other thing to have live feeds all a watchable from a central location where law enforcement can, as the number of cameras gets more dense, gains a bird’s eye view of everything that’s happening across a town or city,” Stanley said. “That’s just too much power for the government to have.”

    There are four ways to register a home or business camera, according to the program’s website.

    Registrants can provide the quantity and views of the cameras on their property so that law enforcement can request access in the event of an incident, as under the original Neighborhood Camera Program. This option does not give the police direct access to a resident’s camera or security system.

    Business owners can choose to stream the live feeds of cameras on their commercial properties directly to the department’s Real Time Crime Center. Spencer confirmed that this option is not available to private residences.

    Other options include allowing the police department to view live and historical footage, with registrants choosing whether to allow that footage to be downloaded.

    Beilin, of Flock Safety, assured the Star-Telegram that none of the company’s technologies employ facial recognition software and that Flock Safety does not own the data collected by the cameras.

    “It’s good that they say they’re not using face recognition,” said Stanley. “But at the end of the day, any video that’s collected, you can always run face recognition on it later.”

    The police department does not run facial recognition on the live feeds shared with the department, but it does use the technology on recorded footage, Spencer said.

    “Our department has a quite strict policy on the use of facial recognition technology, which stipulates it can only be used to identify a specific suspect who is the subject of a specific criminal investigation, and requires special approval,” he said. “So it is possible, under those circumstances, that we would extract an image of a suspect to run through that technology. But it’s not scanning faces in real time like it scans license plates.”

    Stanley described the situation as a new frontier in public safety and advised caution and transparency.

    “These capabilities are things that human beings in the entire history of the world have never seen before,” he said. “They are brand new, they are very powerful, and we need to think very carefully about what they’re doing to our communities.”

    Source link

  • More rain, storms, lightning to hit Dallas-Fort Worth before drying out. Here’s when

    More rain, storms, lightning to hit Dallas-Fort Worth before drying out. Here’s when

    A storm system that has sat across much of the Central U.S. is moving east and a sliver of it will bring more rain and lightning to North Texas by Wednesday, according to an area forecast discussion on the National Weather Service website early Monday.

    “Isolated rain showers will be possible during the day Wednesday,” but possibly unstable air brought on by rapidly dropping temperatures over the region may bring more storms and lightning by the afternoon, Fort Worth meteorologist Eric Martello wrote on the NWS website.

    As the line of storms that hit Dallas-Fort Worth overnight Sunday with booming thunder and flashes of lightning weakens, moving east to Waco and Killeen, another cold front is expected to move into the region tonight bringing cooler temperatures. Only the sunshine and clearing skies Monday afternoon will keep most of the region from freezing overnight. Lows in the 30s and 40s are expected across the Metroplex early Tuesday morning.

    “The brisk and occasionally gusty northwest winds continue on Tuesday despite plentiful sunshine and [solar heating],” Martello wrote. “I have leaned slightly toward cooler guidance as strong low level cold advection looks to continue through early afternoon before becoming neutral. Highs will reach the lower to mid 60s.”

    Showers and thunderstorms will exit the area to the east by afternoon with clearing skies, along with breezy, dry, and warm conditions this afternoon. Afternoon high temperatures in advance of a strong cold front arriving this evening will warm nicely into the upper 60s to middle 70s.
    Showers and thunderstorms will exit the area to the east by afternoon with clearing skies, along with breezy, dry, and warm conditions this afternoon. Afternoon high temperatures in advance of a strong cold front arriving this evening will warm nicely into the upper 60s to middle 70s.


    ⚡ More trending stories:

    There’s no ‘better place’ to see April 8 total solar eclipse than in this tiny Texas town.

    How a six-pack of beer, $100 got rescuers to pull pig out of thorns.

    When do tornadoes occur the most in Dallas-Fort Worth?


    By Thursday, North Texas will begin to dry out up until at least Sunday with highs in the 70s, and by Friday afternoon highs in the 80s are possible for much of the area, the NWS states.

    “Long-range guidance continues to hint at our next frontal system approaching North Texas in the Monday-Wednesday timeframe next week which could increase rain chances across the region,” Fort Worth meteorologist Miles Langfeld wrote on the NWS forecast discussion.



    Source link

  • New Stockyards hotels may crop up near homes. Where are they and who owns them?

    New Stockyards hotels may crop up near homes. Where are they and who owns them?

    Millions visit the Fort Worth Stockyards annually. The city’s tourism industry is scrambling to accommodate the ever-growing number of honky-tonk hungry visitors.

    Developers sensitive to the strain are proposing new hotels on the Stockyards’ fringes, where the district rubs against residential neighborhoods. Through analyzing public records, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has identified at least four prospective projects along this informal border — each at a different stage of development.

    209 NE 29th St.

    Property Owner/Developer: Oldham Goodwin Capital LLC, based in Bryan, owns hundreds of commercial and retail sites across Texas. The company opened a SpringHill Suites at the intersection of Northwest 23rd Street and North Main Street in December 2019.

    What is/was there: The site’s 15.55 acres were originally zoned for heavy and medium industrial use. The land held little more than trees, dirt and debris in recent years. The property borders a pawn shop, some auto repair stores and a truck yard.

    What they want to build: Developers plan to construct a Home2 Suites by Hilton on the southernmost section of the property along Northeast 29th Street. Other portions of land will be used for retail and high-density residential spaces, according to developers.

    Status: The Fort Worth City Council unanimously agreed to rezone the property for commercial and residential use Aug. 8, 2023. The zoning commission also approved of the project with blanket consensus the previous month. Construction doesn’t appear to have begun on the project as of March 20; earlier in the month, the developer’s team applied to begin vacating portions of the property.

    In their own words

    For: “It’s going to be wonderful because this rezoning is going to downzone a historically medium and heavy industrial area to other, better commercial uses.” — District 2 council member Carlos Flores, during Aug. 8, 2023, City Council vote

    Against: “I’m in opposition of this because it would lead to displacement,” north side resident Daniella Serrano told zoning commissioners in July. “This sets the precedent for that area.”

    2833 & 2825 N. Main St.

    Property Owner: Barney Holland Oil Company, a Fort Worth commercial real estate firm that made its name moving fuel before managing land.

    Developer: Oldham Goodwin Capital LLC

    What is/was there: The city demolished an abandoned Carnival supermarket on the site in 2019. A Chick-fil-A and Starbucks — lessees of Barney Holland Oil Company — have since sprouted up on the property’s southern half; the northern half has remained vacant.

    What they want to build: Developers plan to construct a 149-room Hampton Inn and Suites, another Hilton spinoff. The four- to six-story site would have 155 parking spaces, according to site plans.

    Status: Earlier this year, Holland and his partners applied to redesignate the land from general to intensive commercial to move forward with the project. The city zoning commission recommended City Council support the change on March 13 in an 8-2 vote. Councilmembers will decide the fate of the case April 9.

    In their own words

    For: “As you all know, there’s a huge influx of people — tourists, visitors — to the Stockyards and not enough hotel rooms,” Barney Holland Jr. told members of the Northside Neighborhood Association a day after the zoning commission meeting. “As I like to say, ‘Mr. Market’ has identified this as a good spot for a hotel.”

    Against: “We already have the pressure from all of the development of the Stockyards,” Gladys Guevara, vice president of the Northside Neighborhood Association told the zoning commission March 13. “As they encroach the residential areas, that’s going to negatively impact those who’ve chosen to live there.”

    2414 Clinton Ave. (intersection with West Exchange Avenue)

    Property Owner: The estate of James and Janet Lane, according to several public listings. James ‘Jim’ Lane was a Fort Worth attorney and council member. He etched his name in Stockyards lore by lobbying for the site’s now famous twice-daily cattle drives. Lane died in November 2022.

    Developer: Graham Ltd., a Fort Worth-based commercial real estate management firm led by Trey Neville. The company owns and operates Hotel Revel on West Rosedale Street.

    What is/was there: The 14,000 square foot site, zoned for mixed-use development and subject to Stockyards building codes, is empty as of March 20. The hotel would sit on the western frontier of the tourist district, bookending half a mile of saloon-themed bars and restaurants running east along West Exchange Avenue. The site borders a row of homes just across Clinton Avenue to the west.

    What they want to build

    Graham Ltd. first approached the city’s urban design commission with plans for a “boutique” hotel in 2022. The original blueprint envisioned a five-story structure fitted with roughly 40 rooms, a pool, and an interior courtyard. The developers requested exemptions from several building codes to bring the project to fruition — chief among them allowing the building to climb 66 feet instead of the maximum allowed 40 feet and supply 16 parking spaces instead of the minimum required 50.

    Some nearby residents and business owners laid into the proposal. The Northside Neighborhood Association and the Stockyards Business Association issued public statements in opposition. The building’s design betrayed the vibe and style of the rest of the district, they argued. Its parking layout also couldn’t accommodate the visitors and workers it planned to attract. The commission ultimately recommended denying the proposal.

    Graham circled back with a tweaked plan the following summer. The developer shaved off the hotel’s top floor but maintained much of the original aesthetic. It also proposed enlisting a valet parking service to compensate for the lack of onsite spaces. Some commissioners seemed pleased with the changes and lauded the structure’s originality.

    For others, the new plans did little to placate old complaints. The Stockyards Business Association again led the opposition. The proposed hotel still had too many floors, too few parking spaces and too unsuitable a design, they argued.

    Status: Design board commissioners, split on the project, decided to push off the matter to its July 2023 meeting. Critics of the plan — by the attendance standards of a city ordinance debate — appeared en masse at the next session, repeating the same concerns they’d voiced since the project’s inception. Several opposition speakers had tie-ins with the SpringHill Suites hotel on North Main Street. After about an hour of pitches, critiques, and rebuttals, the commission denied the case without prejudice, leaving the door open for Trey Neville’s team to reapply. It’s not clear where the project stands. Neville did not respond to a request for comment.

    In their own words

    For: “Mimicking that, in my opinion, degrades what is actually historical,” the project architect, Bart Shaw, told the urban design commission in 2022 in response to concerns about the building’s incompatibility with the Stockyards’ architectural themes. “The idea is to reference the history in a more literary way.”

    Against: “This gem has to be cared for, which this proposal does not do,” a representative of the North Fort Worth Historical Society commented during the 2022 urban design hearing. “This proposal does not complement or support adjacent neighborhoods.”

    Against: “It’s egregious, it’s not necessary,” former NFL player Hunter Goodwin, president of Oldham Goodwin, said of the proposed height of the hotel during the July 2023 meeting. “By allowing a 54-foot building, you’re affecting the adjacent residential homeowners.” (Goodwin’s company plans to construct another six-story hotel immediately across the street from a row of homes — the proposed 149-room Hampton Inn and Suites on North Main Street.)

    2810 Clinton Ave.

    Owner/Developer: Stockyards Lodging LLC, a company created in 2021 and registered to a home in Irving. The company’s listed agent, Nimesh Patel, is the co-founder and managing partner of ICON Lodging, a hospitality firm based in Coppell that oversees hotels across the Metroplex.

    What is/was there: The property owned by Stockyards Lodging runs from the intersection of Clinton Avenue and Northwest 28th Street north until 2814 Clinton Ave, according to city property map data. The southernmost section, zoned heavy industrial, hosts an auto repair shop; the upper half, zoned for commercial activity (that doesn’t involve alcohol), is an empty parking lot. Bordering a church to the east and a residential neighborhood to the west, the site is a two minute drive from the prospective Hampton Inn and Suites on North Main Street.

    What they want to build: It’s unclear; few details about the possible project are publicly available. The company appeared to submit a notice of construction for a hotel with the Federal Aviation Authority Mar. 11. The proposed building would climb 70 feet, according to the filing. The land would presumably need to be rezoned for the project to proceed.

    Status: Unclear. The developer did not respond to a request for comment.

    Source link

  • Fort Worth’s baby gorilla is headed to this zoo in the Midwest. Here’s what to know

    Fort Worth’s baby gorilla is headed to this zoo in the Midwest. Here’s what to know

    Visit the zoo one last time to see Jameela, Fort Worth’s popular infant gorilla. She will be heading 1,227 miles northeast to Ohio and be paired with a surrogate mother next week.

    So can we trust Cleveland Metropark Zoo to take care of Fort Worth’s prized baby gorilla?

    Just look at that face, who would want to give up something that cute. Unfortunately, the Fort Worth Zoo said it has done all it could.

    “While we hoped for a different outcome — one that includes Jameela fully integrated into our troop — our main goal has always been that Jameela is raised by gorillas,” reads a post on the Fort Worth Zoo Facebook page. “We are understandably heartbroken, Jameela has left an indelible mark on all of us here at the Zoo and in the Fort Worth community.”


    ⚡ More trending stories:

    There’s no ‘better place’ to see April 8 total solar eclipse than in this tiny Texas town.

    How a six-pack of beer, $100 got rescuers to pull pig out of thorns.

    When do tornadoes occur the most in Dallas-Fort Worth?


    Luckily, the Cleveland Zoo has had much success in pairing baby gorillas with surrogate mothers. Not just surrogacy, but gorilla care overall. It is a national leader in gorilla management.

    Cleveland Zoo has experience in gorilla surrogacy

    Back in 2022, Cleveland welcomed its first surrogate baby. They weren’t sure how it would go but it was extraordinary. Kayembe — whose name means extraordinary — was taken under Fredricka’s care. Fredircka started lactating while caring for baby Kayembe even though she hadn’t given birth.

    “An amazing scientific feat that has not been documented in gorillas as old as Freddy (Fredericka). As a 47-year-old female who has had a hysterectomy, and did not birth baby Kayembe, it was very unexpected,” according to a 2022 press release from the Cleveland Zoological Society.

    Gorilla keeper Angie Holmes feeds baby gorilla Jameela on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at the Fort Worth Zoo. Jameela has been under the constant care of Holmes and a multitude of other zoo staff since she was born by Cesarean section.

    Gorilla keeper Angie Holmes feeds baby gorilla Jameela on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at the Fort Worth Zoo. Jameela has been under the constant care of Holmes and a multitude of other zoo staff since she was born by Cesarean section.

    Kayembe reacted positively to the adjustment and has begun branching out by himself and socializing with other male gorillas in the zoo.

    “This is an important development step that will help teach Kayembe how to be a male gorilla and lead a troop of his own one day,” according to the Cleveland Zoological Society.

    Gorillas are a specialty of the Cleveland Zoo

    Overall, Cleveland Zoo has one of the largest primate exhibits in all of the U.S. Gorilla care is one of their specialties. To help them understand the social nature of the wild, gorillas need bachelor groups. Bachelor groups is when one male gorilla lives with three or four female gorillas.

    Moloko is Cleveland’s male silverback gorilla, who has taken a liking to Kayembe, and also leader of Cleveland’s bachelor group.

    All of this points to Jameela having a s hot at a great life at the Cleveland Zoo. Her spot is waiting for her in the Bachelor group. The program she is joining is the most-studied primate program in the country.

    Though the surrogate search is still ongoing, Kayembe is a great testament to what Jameela can expect at her new home.

    To see Jameela before her great migration, Fort Worth Zoo will have her out in the World of Primates exhibit on Sat., March 23 and Sun. March 24 from 10 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

    Source link