Five stories that have North Texas talking: Watch a new documentary on Ebola in Dallas; Dallas takes part in exclusive McDonald’s menu expansion experiment; Whole Foods filed a counter-lawsuit against an Austin pastor in heated cake matters; and more.
A year and a half has passed since the Ebola virus arrived in Dallas. With the chaos long since calmed, several of the first responders in that situation — Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, Fort Worth-trained Dr. Kent Brantly and Dr. Allison Liddell at Texas Health Presbyterian, speak with new perspective about the fall of 2014 in the documentary, “Ebola in America: Epidemic of Fear,” released today from the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
Liddell talks about how she treated nurse Nina Pham, who contracted Ebola from patient Eric Thomas Duncan. Brantly, a Fort Worth-trained missionary doctor, opens up about the loneliness of having Ebola, and Jenkins contributes his perspective from dealing with the spotlight on the city along with Mayor Mike Rawlings and David Lakey, the state health commissioner.
Here’s a short clip from the documentary, which is narrated by a voice familiar to NPR fans, Jacki Lyden:
You can watch the full half-hour documentary here. And for more, dig into KERA’s digital project, “Surviving Ebola.” [KERA News]
- If you had the choice, would you like a bigger Mac or a smaller Mac? McDonald’s has recruited Dallas and Columbus, Ohio to determine the right size of sandwich — the Goldilocks approach, if you will. Stores in both cities are serving two new sizes of the classic Big Mac: the Grand Mac for people who can’t seem to fill up and the Mac, Jr. for those wanting a lighter load. Depending on the results of the two-city experiment, the McDonald’s menu could feature all three. Read more. [GuideLive]
- Whole Foods filed a counter-suit against an Austin LGBT pastor, who claimed an anti-gay slur was written on the custom cake he purchased. Jordan Brown ordered the cake last Thursday for his congregation. He says he paid for it and didn’t check inside the box until he was at a stop light beyond the North Lamar flagship store, when he saw the message on the cake read “Love Wins Fag,” according to his lawsuit. Whole Foods thinks Brown’s claims are fraudulent, and they’ve releasedhttps://youtu.be/HyoluahNZZs">security footage video from the store that they say contradicts his accusations.Read more. [Austin American-Statesman]
- How much bigger can Earth Day Texas get? The three-day festival can draw crowds of 50,000, securing its position as the largest Earth Day exposition in the world. The Dallas Morning News reported: “Founder Trammell S. Crow set his sights on making it a national and eventually international attraction, an important environmental conference drawing elites from the coasts. And hopefully, he said, it will play a role in finding solutions to environmental troubles by bringing together environmentalists and the business establishment.” Read more on about the future plans, and check out our preview on Art&Seek. [The Dallas Morning News/Art&Seek]
- Amazon’s creating 1,000 more jobs in Tarrant County. The online retailer is opening a second fulfillment center at 15201 Heritage Parkway just north of Alliance Airport. This new facility will be the fourth Amazon fulfillment center in the metroplex and the sixth in Texas. Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported: “Amazon began to open fulfillment centers in Texas after reaching a settlement with the state in 2012 over unpaid sales taxes. In the settlement, Amazon agreed to pay the state sales tax, create 2,500 jobs and invest a minimum of $200 million in Texas over four years.” Read more. [Fort Worth Star-Telegram]
