By Bill Zeeble & BJ Austin, KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – Arlington officials are urging home owners to watch for dry soil under current heat and drought conditions. Cracked, dry soil pulling away from a foundation can severely damage it.
Advice to "water your foundation" probably applies across all of north Texas. Proper soil moisture can protect against foundation damage and pricey repairs. Officials recommend surrounding the house with a soaker hose within a foot of the foundation, and turned down to a drip.
Legislature's Toll On Cities
The city of Dallas got a look at its "bill" from the 82nd session of the Texas Legislature Wednesday.
State funding cuts are costing the city almost two-and-a-half million dollars.
The city's chief Legislative advisor, Larry Casto says for the first time since Reconstruction, state lawmakers actually raided the city's general fund.
Casto: They took a portion of the city's mixed beverage tax. It has an impact of 1.7 million dollars per year.
Casto says cities managed to put language in the budget bill that returns the cities to 10% of the mixed beverage tax starting in 2013. But, for the next two years, they get 8%.
Fort Worth officials say the Legislative session could have a negative impact of as much as two million dollars. Fort Worth will lose 600 thousand dollars a year in mixed beverage taxes.
Both cities lose funding for libraries, parks and the arts.
Big Crowds Expected At Dallas Back To School Fair
Dallas school children and parents are expected to line up for the 15th annual Dallas Mayor's Back to School Fair well before the 8am start.
As many as 40 thousand are expected at the Fair Park event.
Mayor Mike Rawlings says education is the foundation of the city.
Rawlings: And we must have our kids prepared and ready for school. Dallas has created a tradition in the Mayor's Back to School Fair that I think is premier in the country. I don't think there's anything like it.
Free school supplies are provided to families who have registered and meet the low income guidelines. Parents who did not pre-register should bring a photo ID, and proof of residency and income.
Free haircuts, dental and vision screenings, and immunizations will also be available.
Tents and water stations will be outside the Centennial and Automobile buildings to help people cope with the heat.
Dallas Fire Rescue will have EMT's on site.
Dallas Back To School Fair
Tarrant Back To School Fair
Irving Double Murder Suspect Arrested
Irving police say Lubbock Police caught up with a man wanted for a double murder last month near Irving Mall.
Investigators say two men and a woman were coming out of the AT&T store on Beltline when a man in a yellow car, perhaps a taxi, pulled up and started shooting. The two men, both 35, were killed. The woman was unharmed.
Witnesses provided investigators with a partial plate of the suspect's vehicle. Police say it led them to 31 year old Ladale Cubit of Euless. He had ties to the Lubbock area. Police there arrested him Tuesday in nearby Slaton, Texas. Police say they have not established a motive for the murders.
Ethics complaint against Sarah Palin dismissed
Alaska officials have dismissed an ethics complaint filed against former Gov. Sarah Palin that alleged she violated state law because the TLC docu-series "Sarah Palin's Alaska" took advantage of a state film production program she signed into law.
Malia Litman of Dallas filed the complaint. She also alleged Palin benefited from the production of the eight-part series in violation of a two-year moratorium that bars former officials from being compensated for assisting others in dealing with the state.
Film office documents show producers of the reality program received nearly $1.2 million in tax production credits after spending about $3.6 million in the state.
The complaint dismissal says there's no basis for the grievance.