Confederate plaque removal, the growth of Frisco ISD, Dallas Sportatorium: Your Thursday morning roundup

Good morning! Here is a look at the top headlines as we start the day. 🌧️ Weather: A steady rain in the morning. Showers continuing in the afternoon. Temps nearly steady in the upper 30s.  [Morning roundup]( 01/03/2019 By Dom DiFurio Good morning! Here is a look at the top headlines as we start the day. 🌧️ Weather: A steady rain in the morning. Showers continuing in the afternoon. Temps nearly steady in the upper 30s. 🔎 Prefer the online view? It's [her]( (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman) POLITICS [Texas board will discuss removal of Confederate plaque from state Capitol]( Gov. Greg Abbott [has called a meeting to discuss the fate of a controversial Confederate plaque]( in the Texas Capitol. On Monday, Abbott said he will convene a meeting of the State Preservation Board's six governing members on Jan. 11. The board, which is responsible for the upkeep of historic sites including the Capitol and governor's mansion, will discuss the removal of the Children of the Confederacy plaque, according to a copy of the meeting agenda posted Thursday. Joe Straus: I'm leaving the Texas Legislature, [but not the debate](. Making history: Openly gay Dallas County lawmaker Julie Johnson [is making history in the Texas House, and so is her wife](. ADVERTISEMENT LOCAL NEWS[After 1992 shooting upended lives, Dallas man raises money to help his childhood friend find freedom again]( Though it had been decades since Jamie Contreras saw his childhood friend, when they reconnected last month, Contreras knew he wanted to help. Contreras [wants to give Jose "Pepe" Villegas some of the freedom Villegas has missed since he was struck]( by the bullet that killed his uncle 26 years ago, leaving him in a permanent vegetative state. Contreras is raising money to help Villegas’ family purchase a van with a wheelchair lift, so they can travel with Villegas without having to rely solely on public transportation. King of the ice cream: Blue Bell's Mardi Gras King Cake ice cream [will be available in Dallas-Fort Worth](. Theater: School shootings. LGBTQ rights. Women's empowerment. Texas teens [go there in a production of Green Day's 'American Idiot'](. COWBOYS SWEEPSTAKES Cowboys fans, Want to go to the first round playoff game this Saturday? [Click here for a chance to win a set of party pass tickets.]( Experience game day with the Cowboys and show off your Cowboys pride. Good luck! — Your friends at The Dallas Morning News EDUCATION[Frisco ISD added more than 15,000 students in 5 years. What's behind the Collin County boom?]( Jamie Heit had a list of criteria for where to live when her husband's job suddenly relocated the couple and their children three years ago from the East Coast to North Texas. Good schools were at the top. A neighborhood close to the Dallas North Tollway for her husband's commute to Uptown followed close behind. Bonus points for Heit — whose high school graduating class didn't even top 100 — if the high schools were on the smaller side. (She automatically nixed the mega, one-high-school town of Allen, the state's largest high school with nearly 6,700 students last school year.) The family landed on another Collin County district: [Frisco ISD, the fastest growing district in Texas](. Real Estate: Dallas' public housing agency [has selected a dozen real estate companies]( to help redevelop some of its aging properties. Commentary: Trump is losing military voters, [here's how Democrats can win them over](. EDITORS' PICKS - Stray Bullet: A stray bullet interrupted a New Year's Eve service at a Fort Worth church [and narrowly missed a pastor and musician](. - Dieting in 2019? Here are 7 practical tips [for surviving the Whole 30 diet](. - Environment: Officials in Indiana want to [fine a North Texas trucking company more than $12,000]( for a spill that was blamed for killing over 40,000 fish last year. Steve Williams, better known as professional wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin, posed outside the Sportatorium for a 1998 High Profile feature in The Dallas Morning News. Williams, who played football at the University of North Texas, got his start in pro wrestling at the Dallas arena. (1998 File Photo/Staff) FINALLY... [What happened to the ‘World Famous’ Dallas Sportatorium? Curious Texas goes back in time]( For Adrian Rodriguez, visiting the Dallas Sportatorium was the epitome of a fun family activity. His mother would take him to the barn-like arena located at 1000 Industrial Blvd. in Dallas, to see a handful of "world famous wrestlers," including the Von Erich clan, The Colossal Kongs, Chris Adams, Action Jackson and "Ice Man" King Parsons. The arena — known for being uncomfortable, having issues with rodent infestations and an incredibly displeasing smell, according to wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin — is long-gone, but fondly remembered by Rodriguez. [That is why he asked Curious Texas: What happened to it?]( 👋 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 [newsletters@dallasnews.com](mailto:newsletter-feedback@dallasnews.com?subject=). 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