The top local stories this morning from KERA News:
A new study from the Southern Poverty Law Center says Texas has removed 31 Confederate symbols over the last three years — more than any other state in the nation.
The civil rights group began tracking these markers in 2015, after a white supremacist shot and killed nine African-American parishioners at a historic church in Charleston, South Carolina. Since that massacre, 110 Confederate symbols have been removed across the country — from monuments to name changes for schools.
Most of the removals or changes have been in the state's major cities, like Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. (One notable exception: Denton County commissioners voted last winter to keep the Confederate monument on the square in downtown Denton. While Texas has removed the most Confederate markers since 2015, it still has more than 200 remaining – second only to Virginia.
Other stories this morning:
- According to the first of three reports, cracking issues at the McKinney school district's 70 million dollar stadium are not “life-threatening.”
- That's according to the first of three reports on the issue. School districts are waiting for a state-generated list of which students were affected by STAAR testing glitches.
- Local education leaders say poverty is playing a bigger role in the classroom.
You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.
