Five stories that have North Texas talking: Puck-struck, ‘Marketplace’ live, DFW gets more Turnpike and less arts venue.
Former Dallas Stars team captain Mike Modano goes into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fametonight, with ceremonies at the Marriott Center (Plaza of the Americas) in downtown Dallas.
Modano became the face of the Dallas Stars when the team moved from Minnesota to Reunion Arena in the early ‘90’s, and helped lead the team to a Stanley Cup win in 1999.
He holds the record for the most goals, points, and games played by an American-born hockey player. He is now minority owner of the Allen Americans, a professional team in the Central Hockey League.
Lou Lamoriello and Eddie Olcyzyk will also be inducted.
-- BJ Austin
Market(place) Value: Ryssdal And Company Live At KERA Studios
You’re a Marketplace fan, I take it? Truth: Kai Ryssdal attends every one of our morning news meetings. Granted, it’s a cardboard cut-out version of the Marketplace host. But an actual Ryssdal will finally get ‘grammed alongside the synthetic version, as a crew from the show takes over KERA studios today.
First, Paddy Hirsch talks about the economy in the second hour of Think at 1 p.m. Like this:
Marketplace broadcasts from our studios at 4 p.m. And later, the No Horse, No Race Election Tour 2012 gets going to relieve campaign ad fatigue with vibrant translations of fiscal issues important to the election. KERA’s own BJ Austin will appear alongside Hirsch, Ryssdal, and Marketplace Senior reporter Krissy Clark.
And that’s not all. Area voices steeped in DFW’s economy will join the conversation: Richard Fisher, the president of Dallas’ Federal Reserve; Lorena Toffer, architect and community activist, and Herb Beckwith, the CFO of Justin Boots are in the stable.
The show will play out before a live audience of KERA members. (Love the station; it loves you back.) Everyone can participate, as we’ll air the program at 7 p.m. Listen on 90.1 or stream it online.
-- Lyndsay Knecht
Key Stretch In Turnpike Now Open
Good news for those who’d like to make it to Verizon Theater, or QuickTrip park, or one of the many venues waiting at the end of the unending journey to Arlington (old and new): Today, the last section of State Highway 161 is open to traffic in Grand Prarie.
The extension connects I-20 and I-30 near 360.
-- Lyndsay Knecht
Hopes For The Arts Center Of North Texas Officially Dashed
The donor who gave $22 million dollars toward a 2,100-seat performing arts venue in Collin County is getting all that money back. Plano, Frisco, and Allen, not so much. Our friends at Art and Seek round up news of the The Arts Center of North Texas’ dissolve, which comes after both Allen and Frisco approved $19 million for the center in 2002, with Plano joining up in 2005. The center was planned as a 2,100-seat in Collin County.
One group that didn’t want public funding for the project: Frisco’s Tea Party chapter, which petitioned for the city to reconsider in 2010. They did, and citizens voted to stop the allotment of funds. The Dallas Morning News’ Matthew Watson has the story.
-- Lyndsay Knecht
Enter Your Photos Of Trinity And Vicinity. Today’s The Deadline
The City of Dallas has a clever way of getting folks down to the Trinity’s banks: an annual photo contest, and today is the last day to enter. Categories are: Architecture/Structures, Forest/Prairies, Rivers/Ponds, and Wildlife.
Photos taken between January 1 and today will be accepted.
Registration forms are online, where you can also browse past winners.
-- BJ Austin