By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX –
Immigrant families are slowly trickling out of a former prison in Texas after a government decision to stop holding them there.
Federal officials announced last month that the T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor, Texas, would no longer hold immigrant families. Instead, they will be detained at the much smaller Berks Family Residential Center in Leesport, Pa.
As of Wednesday, there were just 22 people being held at the Texas facility. That's down from 127 men, women and children last month. Immigration officials say the immigrants were either deported or released while they await word on if they can stay in the United States.
Advocates had criticized the Texas center for being too much like a prison. They're now watching to see if the Pennsylvania center lives up to a promise of being more humane.
Texas pastor questions speech double standard
A Baptist pastor in the Dallas suburb of Arlington is concerned about what he sees as one school district's double standard on presidential speeches.
The Arlington school district didn't allow students to watch President Barack Obama's webcast live in the classroom Tuesday. But on Sept. 21 the district is busing some students to Cowboys Stadium to hear former President George W. Bush speak on a school day.
Cornerstone Baptist Church's Pastor Dwight McKissic Sr. told KXAS-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth that he wants the "duplicity" explained.
The Cowboys Stadium event kicks off the North Texas Super Bowl committee's youth education program. Obama's back-to-school message encouraged students to stay in school and work hard.
Court won't rehear case on man's animal sacrifices
A federal appeals court has denied a Fort Worth suburb's plea for a rehearing on a Santeria priest who sacrifices animals during religious ceremonies inside his home.
Jose Merced sued the city of Euless, saying its decision to ban his slaughter of goats in 2006 violated his First Amendment religious freedoms. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans had overturned a lower-court ruling dismissing his claim. On Friday, it refused to hear the city's plea for a hearing before the full court.
The city contends animal sacrifices jeopardize public health and violate its slaughterhouse and animal cruelty ordinances.
Believers say animal sacrifices are an essential devotion in Santeria, which fuses elements of Roman Catholicism with the beliefs Yoruba slaves brought from Africa.
JFK statue to be placed in Fort Worth square
Downtown Fort Worth boosters plan to erect an 8-foot bronze statue of President John F. Kennedy in a downtown square. The statue to be placed in General Worth Square will commemorate President Kennedy's overnight stay in Fort Worth the night before his Nov. 22, 1963, assassination in Dallas.
KXAS-TV of Fort Worth and Dallas reports the Fort Worth City Council has authorized a license agreement with Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives Inc. Under the agreement, the city will make basic improvements to the square, including improved lighting and other features.
It'll also contribute $250,000 from gas well revenue to help fund the project.
The square is one block from the hotel where Kennedy spent his last night and delivered his last speech. The privately funded statue by Texas sculptor Lawrence M. Ludtke has already been completed.