News for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Following Concussion, UT Quarterback David Ash Quits Football

Universtiy of Texas Longhorns
/
Facebook
UT quarterback David Ash, left, is leaving football following at least one concussion.

Five stories that have North Texas talking: the UT quarterback is leaving football due to concussions; one of the new “genius” grant winners has North Texas ties; explore the history of Dallas’ Pike Park; and more. 

The University of Texas quarterback is leaving football due to concussions. The Associated Press reports David Ash has suffered at least one concussion and lingering symptoms over the last year. Longhorns coach Charlie Strong said on Wednesday that he told Ash "there was no way we were going to let you back on the field." Strong said his health is the team’s “major concern.” Ash, a junior, suffered a concussion during the second week of the 2013 season in a game at BYU. That is the only concussion that Ash and the team have acknowledged. He returned two weeks later, against Kansas State, but left that game with what Texas officials called a head injury. He missed the rest of the season. KERA, PBS and NPR have explored football safety in recent years. A “Frontline” documentary investigated concussions in the NFL -- and it featured former Dallas Cowboys star Troy Aikman. And KERA has explored how Texas high schools limit contact and tackling at football practices.  Here’s a look at NPR’s concussion coverage. [Associated Press/KERA]

  • A Nasher Sculpture Center artist-in-residence has won a “genius” grant from the MacArthur Foundation. KERA’s Jerome Weeks has more: “Rick Lowe has won a $625,000 MacArthur Foundation fellowship. … Lowe combines art with social policy, and is best known as the founder ofProject Row Housesin Houston’s Third Ward, which transformed 71 dilapidated shotgun houses into a revitalized historical district. In Dallas, he was commissioned as part of the Nasher’s 10th anniversary celebration. The Nasher Xchange, as it was called, involved 10 public-art installations and sculptures all around Dallas. Lowe called his project Trans.lation, and spent a year developing a series of markets, art galleries and workshops in the immigrant Vickery Meadow neighborhood.” Read more on KERA’s Art&Seek.

  • The moderator and panelists have been announced for the Texas governor’s debate on Sept. 30 at KERA. Shelley Kofler, KERA reporter and managing editor, will be moderator. Panelists are Brian Curtis with NBC 5/KXAS-TV; Peggy Fikac with the San Antonio Express-News/Houston Chronicle; Norma García with Telemundo39/KXTX-TV; and Gromer Jeffers with The Dallas Morning News. Learn more about the Sept. 30 debate featuring Republican Greg Abbott and Democrat Wendy Davis here. Another governor’s debate is scheduled for Friday in the Rio Grande Valley.

  • Today’s a good day to donate to your favorite North Texas nonprofit. It’s North Texas Giving Day. The sixth annual event is designed to raise money and awareness for 1,600 certified groups. (Full disclosure: KERA is one of the nonprofits. And we thank you for your contributions.) Last year, 75,000 donations were made, totaling $25.2 million. Donations can be made from 6 a.m. to midnight Thursday via the Giving Day website. Donations of at least $25 “will be amplified by $2 million in bonus funds and prizes,” North Texas Giving Day notes.

  • Explore a new exhibit: “Uptown’s Pike Park: Little Jerusalem to Little Mexico, 100 Years of Settlement.” According to organizers: “The Dallas Mexican American Historical League and the Dallas Jewish Historical Society, in collaboration with the Latino Cultural Center, have organized a joint multimedia exhibit centered on life around Pike Park. The exhibit will trace the roots of Jewish and Mexican immigrants, honoring community life in an area of Dallas most recently known as Little Mexico.” The exhibit runs through Oct. 18 at the Latino Cultural Center, 2600 Live Oak, in Dallas. Learn more about Pike Park’s 100th anniversary in this story from KERA. Back in the 1990s, KERA produced a documentary about Little Mexico:

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.