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Dallas City Manager Explains Pay Cuts & Midday Roundup

By KERA News

Dallas, TX – Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm is meeting with employees today and tomorrow to talk about pay cuts and furlough days.

Suhm has told the city council to expect pay cuts of about 5% in her final budget recommendation, due in August.

In a letter to employees, she says "As you may already know, furlough days will continue next fiscal year, merit increases will be deferred and salary cuts will be necessary.

Unfortunately, there is some misinformation being circulated."

Suhm says two meetings today and one tomorrow will give employees a chance to get their questions answered.

Rain Leads To Flooding In Tyler, Mabank

Heavy rain and flooding have led to road closures in some east Texas cities.

Street flooding was reported Thursday in Mabank , about 50 miles southeast of Dallas.

Mabank police Chief Kyle McAfee told The Associated Press that at least four houses flooded and one resident had to be evacuated. McAfee says several streets were closed and that "any road that travels over a creek is flooded."

McAfee says no injuries were reported.

Tyler police on Thursday reported about 10 streets closed due to high water, but nobody was hurt.

One flood-related death happened in central Texas.

New Braunfels police Lt. John Wells says the body of 65-year-old Norman Walker of Iowa Park was recovered Wednesday from the rain-swollen Guadalupe River.

$1M donated for demolition at Paul Quinn College

A $1 million donation to demolish 13 abandoned buildings at Paul Quinn College in Dallas is meant to bolster the school's efforts to survive.

The funds, for the oldest historically black college in Texas, are from investor Trammell Crow Jr.

Paul Quinn President Michael Sorrell says demolition should begin next month. The abandoned structures date to the days of failed Bishop College.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools last year revoked Paul Quinn's accreditation, but the school went to federal court and blocked the move. Sorrell said Wednesday that the case could go to trial next year.

Paul Quinn ended the spring semester with about 150 students.

Exhibit includes fire-damaged Texas gov's mansion

A new exhibit at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum chronicles the more than 150-year-old governor's mansion leading up to the 2008 fire ruled arson.

"Texas Treasure: Inside Our Governor's Mansion" runs through Aug. 1 at the museum in Austin. The exhibit is billed as a chronicle of the "ongoing life and history of the state landmark from the time of Sam Houston to the devastating arson fire." The exhibit opened earlier this month.

No arrests have been made over the June 2008 fire as the historic structure was vacant and being renovated. Gov. Rick Perry and his wife, Anita, are living in a rental house during the mansion overhaul.

Texas Historical Commission officials last month approved a modified plan for an addition to the fire-damaged mansion.

Millions forced to wait for food stamps benefits

A review by The Associated Press found that dozens of food-stamp programs in 39 states left at least a quarter of applicants waiting weeks or months for help.

When Amanda Vaca's husband lost his job, the Fort Worth couple realized they could not afford to feed their four children. Vaca filed for food stamps. A month passed, then two. In some weeks, the food simply ran out.

The customer-service representative, who got laid off shortly after her husband did, says the family waited three months for assistance.

Federal law requires applications for food stamps to be reviewed within 30 days -- even faster for the poorest families. Delays were blamed on overburdened bureaucracies, staff shortages or program rules.

AP reports in Texas, nearly 32 percent of new applications took longer than 30 days to process in fiscal 2009. Some of the delay was caused by new applications after 2008's Hurricane Ike.