Five stories that have North Texas talking: Lawmakers want to exempt Texas from daylight saving time; SXSW amends performance agreement issue; celebrate St. Patrick’s Day early; and more.
There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who hate daylight saving time and those who don’t. Either way, springing forward dominates many a water cooler conversation before and after the switch. But what if we didn’t observe the biannual event? Texas is considering the idea.
There are two states that don’t change their clocks every March and November — Hawaii and Arizona — and three state lawmakers want Texas to join the club. State Representatives Jason Isaac, R-Dripping Springs, and Dan Flynn, R-Canton, both filed bills (HB 2400 and HB 95), and state Senator José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, filed SB238 for consideration this session. All three propose that Texas — both in Central Standard Time and Mountain Standard Time — be exempt from observing daylight saving time, starting Nov. 5, when it ends. Note: This isn’t the first attempt.
Some might argue saving the hour of sleep could make any of the bills worth passing. But, there could be just as many equally small and confusing consequences from forgoing the time switch. Plus, as Texas Monthly points out, “the debate about whether to side with the eight months a year in which it occurs, or to hold the four months of “standard” time as the default would almost certainly prove contentious.” [KERA News]
- SXSW has made good on the controversial immigration language in its performance agreement. Last week, the Austin festival was criticized on social media after a band canceled its show over the artist contract that suggested the festival could notify U.S. immigration authorities under certain circumstances. SXSW initially defended the contract, saying the language had been in place for years and it had never reported international artists to immigration authorities, KUT reports. But the festival Tuesday said it will drop the language starting in 2018. This music portion of this year’s festival begins Monday. [KUT]
- About 10,000 cattle and horses fled this week from wildfires in the Texas panhandle. State agriculture officials and ranchers are scrambling to secure feed and other supplies for the animals. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension needs about 4,200 large bales of hay to feed displaced animals over the next two weeks, The Associated Press reports. Fencing and trucks to shuttle animals from one location to another are among the needs as ranchers recover from the fires that killed four people and burned about 750 square miles. Wildfires also ravaged parts of Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma. [The Associated Press]
- Looking to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day a week early? Well, Dallas is here for you. Most of the activity with be concentrated along Greenville Avenue on Saturday. Your morning can begin as early as 8 a.m. with the 22nd annual St. Paddy's Day Dash Down Greenville, starting at Central Market. Here are the details. At 11 a.m., you can find the best spot along Greenville to watch the Dallas’ 38th annual St. Patrick's Parade & Festival. It’s the largest St. Patrick's parade in the Southwest and one of Dallas' biggest events. For other St. Patrick’s Day parties in Dallas and across North Texas, see GuideLive’s calendar. [GuideLive]
- A 6-year-old girl wrote to Gov. Greg Abbott asking for five-day weekends and he said no. Every Sunday night, Mikayla Brunton would tell her mother she didn’t want to go to school, NBC DFW reports. "I'm just not ready," Mikayla said. "Because it's been two days, and the days go by fast." Her mother suggested she write to Gov. Greg Abbott with her request to extend the weekend. She wrote to Abbott saying it wasn’t fair to have just two days free. The governor responded saying he understands the school week can seem long but that she should keep up with her education and speaking up for issues that are important to her. [NBC DFW]
