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Top Stories: North Texas Schools Set For March Madness; Spotlight On Sculpting Bronze Works Of Art

@SMUBasketball / Twitter

The top local stories this evening from KERA News:

The NCAA basketball tournament tipped off this afternoon, and hopefully your bracket isn’t totally destroyed yet. There are only three teams representing the state of Texas this year:  SMU, Baylor and Texas Southern. KERA’s Gus Contreras reports, all three play Friday afternoon.

Other stories this evening:

  • Several big education stories are percolating in the Texas Legislature. A Senate committee voted today to retool the way state universities are funded, the committee also voted to defund Governor Greg Abbott’s signature pre-kindergarten program and the chairs of the House and Senate education committees filed bills that would change the accountability system that gives local districts and schools letter grades from A to F. 

  • When he’s not rock climbing, Dallas artist Jason Mehl is often creating bronze sculptures. Bronze casting is one of the oldest metal crafts around, yet it remains a tricky, messy, even dangerous process. Every week In the Artist Spotlight, we explore the personal journey of a North Texas creative. This week, Art & Seek’s Jerome Weeks joined Jason Mehl at a noisy Arlington foundry.

  
You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.

Gus Contreras is a digital producer and reporter at KERA News. Gus produces the local All Things Considered segment and reports on a variety of topics from, sports to immigration. He was an intern and production assistant for All Things Considered in Washington D.C.