Longtime South Dallas Pizzeria Ordered To Re-Brand By Colorado Chain With Same Name

Five stories that have North Texas talking: a South Dallas staple is crowd-sourcing to find its new name; Texas has resettled the most refugees in the U.S.; Texas A&M is building a new campus to study self-driving cars; and more.

If you search for Black Jack Pizza, located on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., the first map result dons the all-caps qualifier, “FORMERLY.” The pizzeria that has filled the bellies of South Dallas and Pleasant Grove for nearly three decades received a cease-and-desist letter from a Colorado chain with the same name, WFAA reported.

Owner Terry Jones, who started the business with his savings, said he knew about the Colorado chain for years, according to WFAA, and the company, which owns a trademark on the name, finally took action. The business is demanding the Jones family change its restaurant name, branding and logo.

The Joneses aren’t going to put up a fight. Instead, in the spirit of National Small Business Week, the family is opening up the name change to its customers. Entry forms can be filled and submitted at the Martin Luther King location until May 23.

Also, the winner of the contest gets free pizza for a year. [WFAA]

• Texas has resettled more refugees than any state in the U.S. Yes, Texas is suing the federal government over the matter, but the state’s still leading the nation in resettling refugees, most of whom have come from Myanmar, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. Between Oct. 1 and March 31, 2,677 refugees have been settled in Texas, and 82 Syrians have moved to the state this fiscal year. “After the November terrorist attacks in Paris, believed to have possibly been planned in Syria, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered that no Syrian refugees be allowed in the state.,” according to the Star-Telegram. But President Obama has not budged from admitting 10,000 Syrians into the country by Sept. 30. Read more data on refugees calling Texas home. [Fort Worth Star-Telegram]

• Texas A&M is developing a new $150 million campus to focus on advancing technologies like self-driving cars. The Associated Press reported: “A&M System Chancellor John Sharp said Monday the $150 million initial investment will construct seven buildings and testing sites and upgrade what is now its Riverside Campus at the old World War II-era Bryan Air Base.” Sharp anticipates as many as 10,000 students could be earning degrees on the campus in the future. Read more on the plans from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. [The Associated Press, Fort Worth Star-Telegram]

• A man at Baylor Medical Center in Frisco barged in on a woman after mistaking her for a man using the women’s restroom. Last week when it happened, there was mere speculation of Texas entering the national bathroom debate. The basic premise: Some believe that transgender males and females should use the bathroom that coincides with their gender at birth, and some do not. But this Frisco man had entirely inaccurate impression, assuming Jessica Rush was male, just by her choice of clothing and hairstyle. Dallas Observer reported: “Rush wears her hair in a bleached blond fauxhawk and dresses androgynously. On Thursday, she was wearing a T-shirt from her alma mater, Texas Tech, with basketball shorts. As the man at Baylor explained after walking into the restroom behind her, it's all very confusing.” [Dallas Observer]

• State health officials and the Obama administration agreed to keep some federal medicaid money flowing into Texas to help hospitals serve poor and uninsured patients. The Texas Tribune reported: “State health officials said Monday they have struck a deal with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to keep the program going for another 15 months, with hospital reimbursements remaining at their current level.” The program, known as the 1115 waiver, was intended “to help Texas expand its privatized managed care health insurance system for Medicaid patients and to cover spiraling uncompensated care costs borne by hospitals.” It was first approved in 2011 and was supposed to expire in September. In those five years, $29 billion has been paid to Texas hospitals. Read more. [The Texas Tribune]