Five stories that have North Texas talking: The Lady Bears are a No. 1 seed; masturbation bill is satirical yet serious; Dallas is the only U.S. stop for top-notch Mexican art exhibit; and more.
Baylor is going into the women's NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed for the fifth time in seven years. If all goes well for the Lady Bears, heading north to the championship will be a relatively quick trip — just an hour and a half from campus. The Women’s Final Four will be held in Dallas for the first time, with the national semifinal games set for March 31, and the national championship to be decided April 2 at the American Airlines Center.
The Lady Bears (30-3), who won their seventh consecutive Big 12 regular season title, are the top seed in the Oklahoma City Regional, The Associated Press reports. They will play Texas Southern (23-9) in a first-round game Saturday in Waco. The No. 1 overall seed in the bracket is UConn (University of Connecticut). They’ve won 107 games and four national championships, in a row. Here’s the full bracket. [The Associated Press]
- The Texas lawmaker behind the bill that would fine men for masturbating knows it won’t pass, but hopes it makes a point. The bill also would allow doctors to refuse to prescribe Viagra and require men to undergo an unnecessary rectal exam before any elective vasectomy, NPR reports. State Rep. Jessica Farrar hopes it will start a conversation about abortion restrictions. She tells The Texas Tribune: “What I would like to see is this make people stop and think. Maybe my colleagues aren't capable of that, but the people who voted for them, or the people that didn't vote at all, I hope that it changes their mind and helps them to decide what the priorities are.” [NPR, The Texas Tribune]
- As the city of Frisco has morphed from small town to boom town, its schools have transformed, too. These days, the majority of Frisco students are non-white. Teachers and administrators are responding to the demographic changes in the district — and the academic challenges and community issues that have come along the way. One challenge: Fewer students of color are enrolled in advanced placement courses. The head of the school district’s Diversity Task Force asks: “ “Why is it that in an affluent, educated community such as Frisco ISD [have] students that might not opt in to participate?” Learn why in the latest story from KERA’s American Graduate series: Race, Poverty and the Changing Face of Schools. [KERA News]
- A 67-year-old woman climbed a tree outside her Lakewood home Monday to prevent it from being cut down. Jeri Huber only came down from the trees when she learned that Oncor workers threatened a restraining order against her, The Dallas Morning News reports. Monday wasn’t the first occasion that Huber climbed a tree to make her voice heard. She’s had a longtime beef with the utility company’s tree-trimming practices. “In 2010 — armed with a pellet gun — she climbed a tree in an attempt to stop the company's crews from trimming its branches.” That time Oncor got the restraining order. [The Dallas Morning News]
- An exhibition of Mexican art is making just one stop in the states: the Dallas Museum of Art. The show includes works by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and other prominent Mexican artists from the first half of the 20th century. Agustín Arteaga, who joined the DMA as its director last summer, helped curate and bring the prestigious show to Dallas. “It’s really perhaps the only one time when all of these great masterworks of Mexican modernism have been gathered in one show,” Arteaga tells Texas Standard. “We felt that it was an opportunity to make these great works accessible to everyone in Texas.” The show runs through July 16. [Texas Standard]
