Botham Jean protests stop city council meeting, 911 outage, dual credit classes: Your Thursday morning roundup

September 13,  2018 By Nataly Keomoungkhoun and Dom DiFurio Good morning! Here is a look at the top headlines as we start the day. 🌥️ Weather: Intervals of clouds and sunshine. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 90 degrees. 🔎 Prefer the online view? It's [here](. Dr. Pamela Grayson raises two fingers in the air during an open microphone session of the Dallas City Council meeting on Wednesday, September 12, 2018 at Dallas City Hall in Dallas. (Shaban Athuman/Staff Photographer) botham jean Botham Jean protests bring Dallas City Council meeting to abrupt halt Anger over the fatal shooting of Botham Jean [spilled into Dallas City Council chambers Wednesday](, temporarily halting a council meeting. Council members, who were hearing zoning cases, were caught off guard by the arrival of dozens of protesters. Mayor Mike Rawlings called a sudden recess and left the meeting as chants of "No justice, no peace" began. The activists then urged city leaders to make changes that they say will help end police brutality and improve community relations. Rawlings said even though he halted the council meeting, he understood the protest. Civil disobedience, he said, has been "the heart and blood of this country for many years." "Their anger is the same thing everyone is feeling," Rawlings said, "that this is a tragedy." Also: When could Amber Guyger lose her job on the Dallas police force? [The decision is on hold for now.]( [Click here for the complete coverage of the death of Botham Jean.]( Advertisement [ emergency services Technical glitch caused 911 outage for 1.6 million residents in counties surrounding Dallas-Fort Worth area A technical glitch [caused an outage for 911 service across 13 counties]( spanning the Dallas-Fort Worth area Wednesday afternoon. The outage began around noon, and the network had been fully restored by 3:30 p.m., North Central Texas Council of Governments 911 program director Christy Williams said at a news conference. The glitch caused the program's first outage in more than 26 years, Williams said. Tarrant and Denton counties were spared from the outage, and most of Dallas County was too, minus a few exceptions like Balch Springs, Cockrell Hill, Seagoville and Wilmer. Richardson, Plano, Wylie and Ennis didn't experience the outage. Meanwhile: A man was wounded Wednesday evening[at a shooting at a Lake Highlands DART station](. And: Dallas Area Rapid Transit is planning [an aggressive push to bolster security]( over the next five years. education Texas high school students who take dual credit classes graduate college up to a year faster, officials say High school students who took dual credit classes [graduated with a college degree about a year faster than students who didn't](, according to data presented to Texas lawmakers Wednesday. Based on a cohort of students who started college in 2011, students with dual credit graduated college in 4.3 years on average compared to students without dual credit. Those students graduated on average in 5.1 years, Texas Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes told senators during a hearing in the state Capitol. Dual credit programs allow students to take college-level courses while in high school, at a free or drastically reduced cost to the student. Education officials have touted the program as a way to put more poor and minority students on the college track. Also: Which North Texas high school had the most National Merit semifinalists? [See all 654 honorees here.]( Thinking of college?: Parents preparing to send their kids off to college shouldn't be shocked if the journey[takes longer than the expected four years.]( Advertisement [ Editors' picks - Curious Texas: What type of documents do you need to drive a car in Texas? [Curious Texas digs in the glove box.]( - Books: Michelle Obama's book tour is headed to Dallas; [here's how to get tickets.]( - Weather: A chilly 48 degrees in September? [It’s happened before in Dallas-Fort Worth.]( - Dallas: Dallas City Council [approved giving $300,000 to ESPN for a college-football bowl game](to be played at Fair Park the day after Christmas. - Retail: Last year's Hurricane Irma is why Chewy.com [is hiring in Dallas this year.]( So far, it's hired more than 400 people and plans to staff up to 500 employees. - Politics: Beto O'Rourke tells Stephen Colbert [he wants citizenship for Dreamers "today."](  Frisco Reedy High School Student Ellie Meinershagen, left, pictured with friends displaying facsimile silk-flower mums, has overseen a project promoting the sale of modest mums, with the proceeds going to charity. (Louis DeLuca/Staff Photographer)  Finally... Homecoming mums have become Friday night frights, but this Frisco teen has a better idea By Sharon Grigsby The best thing about high school football in Texas is the way the Friday night lights knit together a community. Maybe the only way to improve on it is to designate every game homecoming  — with a simple festive mum for every fan who wants one. Suffocated somewhere in the pounds of bows, baubles and miniature sound systems, you might find a fake chrysanthemum or two. But climb into the stands at Frisco homecoming games this month and you’ll find some students bucking the trend. That’s the work of [Ellie’s Mum Challenge, now in its fourth year of selling traditional fresh-flower mums to benefit community charities](. 👋 That's all for this morning! For up-to-the-minute news and analysis, check out [DallasNews.com](. 💖 Share the love! If you like this newsletter, please forward this email to a friend and [check out our other newsletters here](. 📧 Do you have feedback? Send your thoughts, questions, praise and corrections to [newsletter-feedback@dallasnews.com](mailto:newsletter-feedback@dallasnews.com?subject=). 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