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Play Ball! Today Is Opening Day For The Texas Rangers

Doualy Xaykaothao
/
KERA News
It's opening day for the Texas Rangers. They play the Phillies at 1:05 p.m. Monday at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Don't worry: The tarp has been removed. (This picture was taken earlier this year.)

Five stories that have North Texas talking: Batter up in Arlington today; NPR invades Texas this week; Conan is visiting Dallas; and more.  

Baseball fans, you know what’s up. Today’s opening day for the Texas Rangers – they play their first home game of the season at 1:05 p.m. at Globe Life Park. (You do remember the name change announced a few weeks ago, right?) The Rangers face the Phillies. Tanner Scheppers will be the Rangers’ Opening Day starter, replacing Yu Darvish, who’s on the disabled list and dealing with stiffness in his neck. If you’re not into baseball, how about food? The Rangers announced last week the new hot foods they'll serve up to hungry fans. They include frozen beer, bacon on a stick and the “Choomongous,” which is humongous: a two-foot-long Asian beef sandwich. We have a roundup of the new foods right here. (Note: Better pack some Tums.) Did you know the ballpark marks its 20th anniversary this year? Game time forecast: Expect overcast skies and highs in the low- to mid-70s. Everyone sing now: Take me out to the ballgame … take me out with the crowd …

  • Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of the killings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia. McLelland’s family continues to grieve the loss. “It’s just terrible,” his mother, Wyvonne McLelland, told The Dallas Morning News. “Our loss is something terrible.” His son, J.R., said: “You gotta put your boots on and go on.” Cynthia McClelland’s daughter is getting married this fall. Friends of Cynthia McClelland, who loved to quilt, are making a quilt to hang in the Kaufman County courthouse in honor of the family, the News reports. A former Kaufman County justice of the peace, Eric Lyle Williams, and his wife, Kim, have been charged with capital murder. McClelland had prosecuted Williams for stealing county computer monitors.

  • NPR does Dallas: NPR is invading North Texas all week long, broadcasting “All Things Considered,” the afternoon news magazine, from the KERA studios in Dallas. Host Melissa Block and a team of producers are taking over KERA to show off Texas – and report on how the state is changing – to the rest of the country. (We’ll see if they develop Texas twangs by the end of the week.) The network will be folding in lots of Texas-themed stories. The program airs weekdays from 4-6:30 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM. In other NPR news, it’s also kind of “NPR Week” on KERA’s “Think.” Host Krys Boyd will interview three NPR staffers this week: Nina Totenberg, the NPR legal affairs correspondent, at 1 p.m. Monday; Melissa Block at noon Tuesday; and NPR science correspondent Shankar Vedantam at noon Thursday.

  • Conan does Dallas, too: Conan O’Brien is in town, taping his TBS show at the Majestic Theatre today through Thursday. Tonight’s guests include actor Adam Sandler and comic Tig Notaro; Tuesday it’s actor Seth Rogan and singer Philip Phillips; Wednesday’s show features actor Simon Heiberg and Eli Young Band; retired NBA player Charles Barkley appears on Thursday. Tickets to O’Brien’s shows have been distributed, but standby tickets will be made available on the day of each taping.

  • A major Islamic art exhibition is now open at the Dallas Museum of Art. It’s the only venue outside of Europe to show Nur: Light in Art and Science from the Islamic World. The exhibition, which spans more than 10 centuries, explores the use and meaning of light in Islamic art and science. It features 150 rarely seen objects, including rare manuscripts. The exhibition, which runs through June 29, requires an $8 special exhibition ticket. Learn more about the exhibit from KERA’s Art&Seek. The woman responsible for bringing the art collection to the DMA was featured recently in The New York Times. The DMA hired Sabiha Al Khemir in 2012 to create an Islamic art program.
Eric Aasen is KERA’s managing editor. He helps lead the station's news department, including radio and digital reporters, producers and newscasters. He also oversees keranews.org, the station’s news website, and manages the station's digital news projects. He reports and writes stories for the website and contributes pieces to KERA radio. He's discussed breaking news live on various public radio programs, including The Takeaway, Here & Now and Texas Standard, as well as radio and TV programs in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.