Animals

Take a look at El Centro, get the biggest news in baby names, and find out how Zeke Elliot is already winning.

Blood was shed in the production of this week's look at who's up and who's down.

Heads up, people. It's time to tabulate the results of the last week of action in North Texas.

DISD big pimping, Spending Cheese. Yes, I realize it's "Gs," not "cheese." I was having issues with all-caps text. Doesn't matter. It all leads to this: WFAA-TV aired an investigation on the DISD's marketing department last October questioning a payment made to a consultant before the consulting was ever done. DISD fought back. Some may have lied. The school district's internal audit proved the news team right yesterday and found that it wasn't an isolated incident. Some DISD officials resigned, some remain. 911 Calls for Dog-Mauling Victim Released. Neighbors weren't able to save Antoinette Brown from the pack of loose dogs that bit her more than 100 times, but a couple of them called 911. Recordings were released yesterday. The timeline of the calls show that the city may have fudged its story on officers' response time. Animals in Peril. Oh, gosh. So many more horrible animal-related stories in the news. Where do I begin? There's the story out of Farmers Branch about the boyfriend beating his girlfriend's Terrier mix to the point that it had to be euthanized. Speaking of euthanization, a woman went to pick up her dog from Mesquite's animal shelter too late. That's awful. Also, a cat was stabbed and burned in Fort Worth. Good news is that it's on the mend and people care. Another silver-lining story: A dog missing after surviving the car crash that killed its owner in Collin County has now been found. Bedford Mom Makes A Very Mom Mistake. A 16-year-old Bedford girl has gone viral after tweeting a text exchange with her mother. In the texts, Lisa Banks gets furious with the teenager for having, what she assumes, a baggie of illegal drugs in her nightstand. Turns out the narcotics were actually capsules that expand into dinosaur sponges when placed in water. I can't honestly say I will never do this.

ARLINGTON CITY COUNCIL SIGNS OFF ON A NEW BALLPARK. The council approved the $1 billion plan that would give the Texas Rangers a new stadium. However, the next step is to convince voters to spend $500 million to keep the team in Arlington. Opponents have asked why the current stadium, which opened in 1994, needs to be replaced. POLICE FIND AN ALLIGATOR BEHIND A SOUTH DALLAS MIDDLE SCHOOL. The nearly 7-foot-long reptile was captured near Steam Middle School around 2 a.m. Wednesday morning. An officer, who was patrolling the area, stopped after spotting what he thought was a log. It's possible the alligator came from one of the area's nearby creeks. THE BATHROOM SAGA CONTINUES. State Attorney General Ken Paxton may file a legal challenge to President Barack Obama's directive that instructs schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity. This could affect Fort Worth ISD's newly established guidelines that would accommodate transgender students. Paxton has scheduled a 2 p.m. news conference in Austin. STATE SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE WHO THINKS OBAMA IS A FORMER GAY PROSTITUTE LOSES. Thankfully, Mary Lou Bruner, a retired teacher who suggested Obama might have been a "gay prostitute" in his youth, lost the Republican nomination last night by more than 10,000 votes. Bruner drew national attention earlier this year for her Facebook commentary which included claims such as "Islam is not a religion" and that Noah's ark carried baby dinosaurs. Lufkin school board President Keven Ellis won the nomination and will face Democratic candidate Amanda Rudolph in the fall. DALLAS ZOO WELCOMES ELEPHANT CALF. The calf was born May 14 to one of the five Swaziland elephants that arrived in Dallas in March and is the first African elephant calf born in the United States in nearly two years. The 3-foot, 175-pound calf hasn’t been named yet but is bonding with his mother. In January, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service granted the zoo a permit allowing the zoo to bring over the elephants from Swaziland–a move that was contested by animal advocacy groups. It’ll be a few months before the public can meet the calf so–until then– this video will have to suffice.