Two Texas Universities Condemn Racially Charged Incidents That Surfaced This Week

Five stories that have North Texas talking: A Mesquite woman thought she lost her dog forever, until he was found in Las Vegas; another Legislative session, another round of bills on marijuana; Sid Miller fired the person who published that obscene tweet about Hillary Clinton; and more.

At Southern Methodist University, fliers telling white women not to date black men were found and reported Sunday in a residence hall on campus. Titled "Why White Women Shouldn't Date Black Men," the fliers included several incendiary claims including calling black men abusive and saying biracial children lack intelligence. The same leaflet was found this week at the University of Oklahoma and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, The Associated Press reports. University officials condemned the message as "hateful" and says there's no justification for hostility toward others.

And at Abilene Christian University, two students were expelled after a Snapchat video was posted of a white student in blackface exclaiming: "I'm a strong black woman," the Dallas Morning News reports. In the video that circulated on social media Monday, a student wearing an Abilene Christian University shirt and shorts is seen with her face covered in black and wearing oversized red lips. University President Phil Schubert has apologized for the incident and says the school doesn't tolerate harassment.

For similar incidents that have broken out in the past week, see the running list of recent protests and racially charged events from The Texas Tribune. [The Associated Press, The Dallas Morning News]

• A Mesquite woman was reunited with her pet Shih Tzu Monday four years after he went missing. Jessica Urbina searched for Bam Bam for months after his escape in the spring of 2012, and it wasn’t until two weeks ago, she thought she had lost him forever, the Dallas Morning News reports. She got a call from the Siena Animal Shelter in Las Vegas. Bam Bam was there. A good Samaritan had dropped him off. Luckily, Bam Bam was micro-chipped and the Nevada shelter was able to trace him back to Urbina. [The Dallas Morning News]

• Ahead of the 2017 Legislative session, Texas lawmakers filed bills to decriminalize marijuana. The Texas Tribune reports: “Among the bills are those that would create a specialty court for certain first-time marijuana possession offenders, reduce criminal penalties for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana and re-classify convictions for possession of small amounts of marijuana.” Gov. Greg Abbott has said lawmakers would not pass any legislation that would legalize the drug. Read more about the bills. [The Texas Tribune]

• Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller says he fired a campaign worker who posted an obscene reference to Hillary Clinton on Miller's official Twitter account. The Austin American-Statesman obtained a letter Miller sent to Department of Agriculture employees apologizing for the incident. Posted a week before Election Day, the tweet called Clinton a sexually explicit, derogatory term for women. It was quickly deleted. Miller's campaign initially said his account was hacked, but later said the tweet was mistakenly copy-pasted from another user. [The Austin American-Statesman]

• Texas is one of five Gulf states getting funds to restore natural resources damaged by the 2010 oil spill. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation says Louisiana is getting $245 million, Alabama $63 million, Florida $32 million, Mississippi $16 million and Texas nearly $12 million for a total of 24 projects, The Associated Press reports. This is the foundation's fourth and largest round of grants so far. It will get a total of $2.5 billion in oil spill payments over five years. Its grants totaled about $100 million in each of the first two years and more than $80 million last year. [The Associated Press]