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Cheyenne O'Connell (Padgett)

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Seth Dowdle

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LAUREN NUTALL

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Martina Nacach Cowan Ros

Welcome to my portfolio! I’m an Argentine-Peruvian student at Boston University pursuing a dual degree in Journalism and International Relations. I’ve covered stories across politics, culture, and business, driven by …

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Vandana Ravikumar

I'm a digital journalist with experience covering politics, education, breaking and trending news, and more. I've reported from all over the country, including the Bay Area, Arizona, Texas, and Washington, …

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Gloria Salinas

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Latest Articles

Collin County’s growing pains: Can one of the fastest-growing regions in the U.S. keep up?

There was just a stoplight at the intersection of Eldorado Parkway and U.S. Highway 75 when Halcyon Ramsey, pregnant with her first child, moved to McKinney about 15 years ago in search of a better school district for her now-teenage daughter. Ramsey is among the 1 million Californians who have …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

The nation’s fastest-growing city paused building. Is Princeton ready to reopen the gates?

Madelyn Awalt thought she had found the perfect home for her family in Princeton, a small city 10 miles east of McKinney. But problems started the day the family moved into the new, $285,000, house nearly four years ago. — the dishwasher shutting off mid-cycle and appliances tripping a breaker. …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

What happened to Dallas’ public transit network of the 1930s? Curious Texas investigates

At around 7 a.m. on a recent morning, the Green Dragon emerged from McKinney Avenue Transit Authority’s trolley barn in Uptown. Throughout the day, the vintage trolley will travel on the same tracks that were once part of Dallas’ vast streetcar network. The car will ferry locals and visitors alike …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

Cedar Hill fired a teacher after an investigation. D-FW schools continued to hire him

In 2020, a North Texas high school teacher and football coach was terminated from Cedar Hill High School for violating the Educator’s Code of Conduct, resulting in a public sanction on his teaching certificate. He has since worked at three different schools.
By LAUREN NUTALL
• Dallas News

Allen’s $349M spending plan trims tax rate, boosts public safety, parks

As the city plans for new developments and bolstering its infrastructure to keep up with population growth, Allen leaders are set to vote next month on a new tax rate and budget that includes about $349 million in expenditures. The proposed budget includes a property tax rate of 41.54 cents …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

Visa: Texas, Southern U.S. pulling ahead as national economic growth slows

Job growth, strong consumer spending, housing affordability and surging business investment are making the South the fastest-growing regional economy in the U.S., according to a new report from Visa. Economic growth slowed in all four U.S. regions in the first quarter of 2025 as tariff implementation and uncertainty weighed on …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

New McKinney biotech firm aims to integrate, simplify PCR testing

A new biotechnology company in McKinney has ambitions to become the world’s first fully integrated platform for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing — the same technology behind a common COVID-19 test. Three Texas health care and biotechnology companies — McKinney-based Community Direct DX and Tyler-based Scienetix and Advanta Genetics R&D …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

Watch, cheer, donate: Dallas startup ‘gamifies’ money pledges to NCAA football teams

When the first college football games kick off later this month, fans will have a new way to support their teams — through tax-deductible, “gamified” donations. A new mobile app by Dallas-based company Sportsmo will let users see play-by-play updates during a game, and can let them make donations for …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

‘Unacceptable’: Rural Collin County may lose fire protection as tax district vote nears

Jo Ann Graham’s family has called an ambulance twice and the fire department once in the eight years they have lived just outside McKinney. Each of those times, she said, help arrived in minutes. The wait could soon be much longer, when first responders from McKinney next year halt service …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

4 Collin County mayors share vision for fast-growing region

From within their council chambers, city leaders in Collin County have steered small, sleepy suburbs into booming hubs. City councils across the county — and the mayors who lead them — have sought to address the growing pains. Over the last year, the county added almost 76,000 new residents — …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

Texas city employee who stole $121,000 in HUD funds to get free rent, more is sentenced

A former Amarillo city staffer has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for embezzling more than $121,000 from a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s grant program. Vanessa Robinson, the former grant manager for Amarillo’s Community Development Department, stole funds that were intended to help people experiencing …
By LAUREN NUTALL
• Dallas News

Residents of FW apartment complex who lost their homes during 6-alarm fire file lawsuit

Several former tenants of a Forth Worth apartment complex who were forced out of their homes by a massive rooftop fire have filed a lawsuit against the property and its managers, alleging gross negligence by a contract worker whose actions allegedly sparked the blaze and accusing property managers of denying …
By LAUREN NUTALL
• Dallas News

Rural Collin County voters to consider new tax for emergency services

Faced with losing fire protection, residents in rural Collin County will decide in November if they will pay a new tax to cover emergency services. The county’s Commissioners Court, heeding a resident petition from earlier this year, voted unanimously Monday to place the proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot. If …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

Prosper eyes bond package to fund library, police HQ expansion

Strapped for cash to pay for a new library, expand its police headquarters and make a permanent space for town departments, Prosper leaders could decide next month if they will ask voters to approve a $183.8 million bond package in November. The package, which Prosper’s Bond Committee presented to the …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

From schoolhouse to hub of hope: Esperanza Community Center aims to uplift neighborhood

A weathered red sign stood outside J. Frank Dobie Pre-K School on a recent afternoon, two months after it announced the last day of classes — and the end of the school itself. Across the street, Victoria Gonzalez, 59, has been keeping an eye on the schoolhouse. Her family has …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

Trump signs disaster declaration, activates federal aid to Kerr County

President Donald Trump on Sunday signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County after deadly flash flooding through Texas’ Hill Country. Authorities said the death toll had climbed to 68 in Kerr County alone. “These families are enduring an unimaginable tragedy, with many lives lost, and many still missing,” Trump …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

What to know about Camp Mystic, summer camp deluged by historic Texas flood

Along the Guadalupe River and just miles south of the unincorporated community of Hunt, population 1,300, sits Camp Mystic. The private Christian summer camp has hosted generations of Texas girls for almost a century. The camp was thrust into a national spotlight after a “catastrophic” deadly flood inundated its grounds …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

About 150 gather in downtown Dallas for Independence Day rally, Trump protests

A crowd of about 150 gathered at Main Street Garden on a cloudy Friday, holding American flags and signs in protest of the Trump administration. The “We the People, Celebrate the Constitution” demonstration was cohosted by Indivisible Dallas and the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of 50501, the organization behind the nationwide …
By Casey He
• Dallas News

Mother of missing Everman boy added to FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list

North Texas fugitive Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, charged in the death of her 6-year-old son, has been added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, authorities announced Tuesday. The reward for information leading to her arrest has been increased to $250,000, the FBI and local law enforcement agencies said Tuesday morning …
By Casey He
• Dallas News