The top local stories this evening from KERA News:
Dallas County’s new district attorney was sworn in today. Faith Johnson, a former prosecutor and felony court judge, is the county’s first African American female DA.
Johnson, a Republican, was a Dallas prosecutor for nearly eight years and a judge for 17 years. She was most recently a Department of Public Safety commissioner. Her predecessor, Republican Susan Hawk, resigned for health reasons.
KERA’s Bill Zeeble was at the ceremony where Johnson said she was excited and grateful to both God and Republicans.
Other stories this evening:
- Jan Pruitt, former President and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank, died today after a battle with cancer. Pruitt stepped down from her position last month to focus on her health. In her 20 years with the food bank, she helped it go from serving 11 million to 70 million meals across 13 counties in North Texas. You can learn more about Pruitt in a profile by KERA’s Courtney Collins, which aired last week.
- Today was the first day KERA’s talk show, Think, aired on public radio stations across the state. Host Krys Boyd talked with James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic, about what the election of Donald Trump says about America.
- A Houston-based program, Genesys Works, gives disadvantaged teenagers real-world work experience before they graduate from high school. Laura Isensee of our partner station KUHF in Houston sat down with Eloisa Cortinas, a senior at Alief Hastings High School, and her mentor, Maria Carlota Palacios, who manages community relations for the energy company, Williams. Cortinas talks about how she wants to go into financial advising for low-income women.
- It was a David and Goliath story on the college football field in Arlington. Only this time, Goliath won. Wisconsin beat Western Michigan at the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium. The score was 24-16.
You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.
