Southern cross; Far from the cathedrals of Europe, global demographics are inexorably changing the face of Christianity

By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1G ENUGU, Nigeria – When the Rev. Humphrey Ani walks out on the poured concrete floor of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, he sees the future of Christianity stretched before him. The pews are packed, even though the slowly turning fans do little to disperse the Sunday morning heat. More […]

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W-H gets new leaders; State ousts trustees, picks manager board and superintendent

By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A For the fourth time since November, Wilmer-Hutchins teachers will have a new superintendent to call boss. But this time they’ll have an entirely new board, too. State Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley swept into the troubled district Thursday and swept out the seven-member school board that has overseen the […]

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Tough choices ahead in Wilmer-Hutchins; State hopes panel dissolves district before big budget cuts kick in

By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1B State officials say it’s unlikely they will force the shutdown of Wilmer-Hutchins schools in the next few months. But they are hopeful a federally approved board of managers may do it for them. If that can happen before next school year, children would be saved from the results […]

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Refusing to forget Vietnam; Local immigrants give thanks for lives here, feel for hardship there

By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1B Tom Ha left Vietnam 30 years ago today. He was a 24-year-old medical student on the island of Phu Quoc, tending to refugees who had fled the advancing North Vietnamese Army. It was on the radio that he first heard the news: Saigon had fallen. Having worked alongside […]

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Nigerian nuns happy with German pope; Sisters had rooted for African cardinal but weren’t disappointed

By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 17A ENUGU, Nigeria – “The pope is coming! The pope is coming!” Sister Chinyere was yelling at the television the moment she saw the crawl across CNN’s screen. She and three other Sisters of Divine Love were in the front room of the small hostel they run in this […]

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State stiffens school ratings; Many more will be ‘unacceptable’; bill could spur privatization

By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A The number of schools the state considers failing will skyrocket next year under a tougher accountability system approved by state Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley. And a new Senate proposal could pave the way to dozens or hundreds of those failing schools being taken over by private companies. “I’m […]

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W-H cancels meeting; But state overseers gather, rehire interim superintendent

By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1B The great Wilmer-Hutchins agenda debate continues. Last week, both the district’s school board and its state overseers produced agendas for Monday night’s meeting. The documents differed in some fairly substantial ways – for instance, about who would be the district’s superintendent and who would serve on its school […]

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State back in charge of W-H school district; Court order overturned; more changes ahead as fired chief plans return

By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A State officials are back in charge of running Wilmer-Hutchins schools, and changes are on the way. The 5th District Court of Appeals threw out a week-old temporary restraining order Friday. That order, issued by state District Court Judge Merrill Hartman, had removed the state-imposed management team that has […]

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State acts to regain oversight of W-H; Abbott asks court to negate order barring TEA team from action

By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1B The Texas attorney general’s office is asking a Dallas appeals court to immediately return to the state oversight of the troubled Wilmer-Hutchins school district. “It is an emergency request,” said Tom Kelley, a spokesman for Attorney General Greg Abbott. “We want to put back what was undone.” On […]

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