Branch Davidian tragedy 25 years later, investigating Southwest engine failure, homes for the homeless: Your Thursday morning roundup

April 19,  2018 By Nicholas Friedman and Carla Solórzano Good morning! Here is a look at the top headlines as we start the day. 🌤️ Weather: Sunny and cool in the morning. Partly cloudy by afternoon. High: 74 degrees. 🔎 Prefer the online view? It's [here](. Flames engulf the Branch Davidian compound after federal agents tried to end a 51-day standoff by firing tear gas canisters into the buildings. (1993 File Photo/The Associated Press) waco standoff 25 years later Branch Davidian tragedy sparked government suspicion that still haunts us 25 years later The fire rose above the Texas prairie like a portent, an inferno consuming David Koresh and more than 70 of his followers in the Branch Davidian compound. [Koresh's personal apocalypse was televised live worldwide just after noon on April 19, 1993](. Questions about what went wrong began to mount before the ashes were cool. How could a 33-year-old ninth-grade dropout convince so many people that he was the Lamb and God had willed this terrible end - nurses and teachers, a postman and a Harvard-educated lawyer, Australians and Brits, New Zealanders and an Argentinian-born Israeli Jew? Above all, why didn't FBI commanders realize they were fulfilling Koresh's doomsday prophecies? "It was a mess, and we played right into it -- into a prophetic, apocalyptic ministry that David Koresh had been preaching for 7 ½ years," said retired FBI agent and negotiator Byron Sage. "There were no good options. It was damned if you do, you're damned if you don't." - How the Branch Davidians [set the fires for a self-fulfilling prophecy of their doomsday.]( - Breaking through the myths [surrounding the 1993 raid.]( - 51 days under siege: [A timeline of the Branch Davidian standoff.]( - More on [the Branch Davidian siege 25 years later.]( Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings questions Atmos Energy representatives about gas lines during Wednesday's City Council meeting. (Nathan Hunsinger/Staff Photographer) commentary Atmos Energy told the Dallas City Council we're all safe, so why doesn't it feel like it? From City Columnist Robert Wilonsky: Mike Haefner, Atmos Energy's president and CEO, actually said this to the Dallas City Council on Wednesday: "I can assure you our system is safe today, and with recent investments, it's safer than it's ever been." Well, hot dog. Call off the National Transportation Safety Board. Send the investigators packing. Tell the regulators we're all done here. That's a tough break for the family of 12-year-old Linda "Michellita" Rogers, who was killed when her northwest Dallas house blew up on Feb. 23. And it stinks for the thousands of people who had their gas cut off for weeks while Atmos scrambled to replace gas lines planted around the end of World War II. But everyone else can sleep tight. Haefner said we're good. [More from him here.]( Meanwhile: Dallas council members told Atmos Energy representatives at a briefing Wednesday [that five years is too long to wait for pipeline replacements to be completed.]( And: A state senator got the facts wrong [when praising Dallas ISD's use of philanthropy to fund its schools.]( A National Transportation Safety Board investigator examines the damaged engine of a Southwest Airlines plane Tuesday at Philadelphia International Airport following a midair engine failure that resulted in the death of a passenger. (NTSB via AP/Image from video) Southwest Airlines Broken engine blade at center of investigation into fatal Southwest Airlines accident Federal investigators are [probing the role a broken engine fan blade played in the catastrophic event aboard the Southwest Airlines flight]( that resulted in the first fatal accident onboard a U.S. aircraft in nine years. What the investigators uncover could have wide-reaching implications for a popular CFM56-7B engine type that is used in thousands of aircraft across the world. Late Wednesday, U.S. regulators said they would issue an order within two weeks calling for inspections of fan blades on certain CFM56-7B engines. National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt described the broken fan blade as the initiating a chain of events that led to the failure of the left engine and, ultimately, the death of a New Mexico woman onboard the flight, who suffered severe injuries when a window blew out and she was nearly sucked out of the plane as the cabin rapidly depressurized. Also: The [cause of Jennifer Riordan's death on a Southwest Airlines flight]( was "blunt impact trauma of the head, neck and torso," and was ruled an accident. And: A firefighter from Celina, a ranch broker from Brandon and a retired nurse from Dallas [emerged as heroes amid the chaotic scene on the flight](. Advertisement (Tom Fox/Staff Photographer) Photo of the Morning The name, the Cottages at Hickory Crossing, sounds like something you might find in Coppell or Frisco, a development of new-build homes in the sprawling reaches of Dallas suburbia. But the Cottages at Hickory Crossing are not out in suburbia, and they are certainly not McMansions. They are, instead, an experimental group of 50 micro-houses for the chronically homeless, including Carl Oatman (pictured here), and they are located not on a picturesque woodland, but wedged [into three acres of open space in central Dallas, where Interstate 30 crosses Interstate 45.]( Around The Site - Hmmm: A new poll has Democrat Beto O'Rourke within striking distance of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, but [some Texas political analysts are skeptical](. - Parents outraged: Several teachers at [a Garland charter school said the school's director did not tell them]( about a shooting threat. - Don't forget: North Texans will be able to vote in 12 runoff races in May, but [make sure you're registered by Monday](. - No, you're crying: Students [in a pen-pal program with senior citizens to help the kids learn cursive]( have finally met face-to-face. - AT&T's antitrust battle: Time Warner's chief executive [ridiculed the idea that a merger with AT&T would increase prices]( to watch popular content. - Twitter famous: About 12 years ago, Shea Serrano was working for a construction company. [Now his book tour is bringing him to Dallas](. - Herd hero: A meteorologist in Oklahoma [saved cattle from a raging wildfire](while broadcasting on Facebook Live. Students from Westglades middle school, next to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, join a March 14 walkout in honor of the 17 victims killed on Valentine's Day at the Parkland, Fla., high school. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel) Finally... Dallas-area high school students, tell us why Friday's walkout on Columbine anniversary matters to you Thousands of school walkouts are expected on Friday as part of continued efforts calling for stricter background checks and gun control to help put a stop to mass shootings. The walkouts will occur on the 19th anniversary of the deadly Columbine High School shooting in which two students gunned down 12 classmates and a teacher in Colorado. The Dallas Morning News [would like to hear directly from students]( who are participating about why it matters. AdVERTISEMENT 👋 That's all for this morning! For up-to-the-minute news and analysis, check out [DallasNews.com](. 💖 Share the love! 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