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Big Foot Is Real? Texas Group Says It Has Sasquatch DNA

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Five stories that have North Texas talking: Sasquatch is real? Yes, Sasquatch is real, free meals for all DISD kids, quit your job via a viral video, and more.

The Sasquatch Genome Project, which includes several members with North Texas ties, says that Big Foot is alive and well. In fact, Sasquatch has been spotted throughout Texas. The group not only has proof via grainy video -- it has DNA evidence. The Genome Project held a press conference in North Texas on Tuesday to discuss what it knows.

WFAA-TV interviewed Dr. Melba Ketchum, director of the Sasquatch project. She said she didn’t believe that Big Foot existed. But she’s no longer a skeptic.

“Not only does the DNA prove it, but I’ve actually seen them at this point,” Ketchum said.

But why are Big Foot videos always grainy?

“They’re a type of human people, a type of human hybrid,” Ketchum told the station. “They can elude us. If you get it at all, it’s going to be very fleeting.”

Over the summer, the Houston Chronicle had the DNA evidence tested by a Texas scientist. It showed no evidence of a new species, the newspaper reported. Ketchum says there is a conspiracy to suppress her group’s findings.

Ketchum was asked on Tuesday: Why not just capture a Sasquatch body?

“That’s murder,” she said. “You cannot kill them.”

In other news:

  • Free meals for all DISD kids: Every Dallas ISD student will be able to eat breakfast and lunch for free, the district announced Tuesday. Dora Rivas, the district’s executive director of food and child nutrition services, said the district spends about $300,000 on processing meal applications, which includes hiring temporary workers. “We have all this paperwork and we’re serving 90 percent of our students just to keep that 10 percent from eating a free meal or reduced,” Rivas told KERA’s Stella M. Chávez. “So by eliminating the process of meal applications, then we’re able to save some money and be able to then provide meals free to all students.” Other Texas school districts with a large number of poor kids offer free meals to all. Rivas said making sure kids eat breakfast and lunch is important so they can do well in school.

  • On a mural mission: The Dallas Observer traveled across the city, hunting for the best murals. A slideshow is here. They include the painted highway support beams in Deep Ellum; a Viva Oak Cliff piece; brightly colored characters on a Davis Street mural by Sour Grapes; and one in the Design District that features a woman sprawled out across a pool table. “Dallas' murals are as disjointed as the architecture they're painted on,” Jamie Laughlin reports. “The high-end commissioned works, like the walls Shepard Fairey and Faile did for the Dallas Contemporary, are balanced by spaces where local artists were allowed to get handsy. What we don't have much of -- well, never for long anyway -- are renegade teams of muralists.”

  • Architecture Forum kicks off Thursday: The Dallas Architecture Forum has announced its 2013-14 season of lectures that begins on Thursday. Minsuk Cho will kick off the series. He's the award-winning South Korean architect and founder of Mass Studies, which focuses on investigating architecture in the context of mass production. Cho will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday at The Magnolia Theater, 3699 McKinney Ave. A reception starts at 6:15 p.m. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $5 for students (with ID). Lectures are free for Dallas Architecture Forum members. Tickets can be purchased at the door before the lecture. For more information, visit www.dallasarchitectureforum.org.

  • Want to quit your job with style? Make a creative video and watch it go viral. Marina Shifrin, a University of Missouri graduate and employee of Taiwanese company Next Media Animation, resigned by making a two-minute dance video, which has gone viral. The Kansas City Star reports that Shifrin danced to Kanye West’s “Gone." In the video, she explains that she spent the past two years sacrificing “my relationships, time and energy for this job."  Here’s the video:

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.