Fire in Grand Prairie, monitoring abuse victims in foster homes: Your weekend roundup

Draft time for the Wings and Cowboys  [Morning roundup]( 04/19/2020 By Todd Davis Good morning! Here is a look at the top headlines of the weekend so far. 🌧️ Weather: True to the pandemic times we live in, even the showers in the forecast are isolated. There's a 60 percent chance of rain early Sunday, though nothing severe is expected. Expect it to be windy, though, and the high could reach the lower 80s. 🔎 Prefer the online view? It's [here.]( Dallas CASA volunteer Hannah Pearson (left), who is also a nurse treating COVID-19 patients at Parkland Memorial Hospital, with Kathleen LaValle, Dallas CASA president and CEO, outside the nonprofit's headquarters.(Jeffrey McWhorter / Special Contributor) CORONAVIRUS [‘It’s a scary situation for kids’: How volunteers assigned to Dallas abuse victims monitor foster homes amid coronavirus]( Metro columnist Sharon Grigsby writes: As one of many Parkland Memorial Hospital nurses who have volunteered to care for critically ill COVID-19 patients, 23-year-old Hannah Pearson is at the heart of an urgent and unknown fight. But not even a deadly pandemic can deter Pearson from her other lifesaving work: Keeping tabs on two sweet little kids passed from one household to the next since they were bounced into the foster-care system a year ago. When Pearson’s not pulling her overnight shift in the ICU, this courageous young woman works as one of about 1,500 volunteers in Dallas CASA — Court Appointed Special Advocates — who are trying to maintain their watch over vulnerable youngsters at a time when social distancing makes it all but impossible to lay eyes on them. These are children placed in foster care by Child Protective Services after physical or sexual abuse, abandonment or severe neglect in their own homes. Overnight, and often with only a few belongings shoved into a trash bag, they have lost everything familiar — home, family, friends and school. [For months, if not years, their CASA volunteer will be their only constant.](  Also: [Dallas area’s Muslim community]( coordinates to provide masks, meals to Parkland Hospital -- and more help on the way.   Commentary: It’s hardly surprising that people who look like me are at [the greatest risk of COVID-19]( writes Joyce King.  And: Hundreds of protesters marched on the Texas Capitol calling for an end to Gov. Greg Abbott’s [stay-at-home orders](. ADVERTISEMENT BUSINESS [Texas' small businesses seek government lifeline they never thought they’d need]( As shelter-in-place orders took hold in Texas and across the U.S. amid the coronavirus outbreak, Richardson jeweler Kathleen Pampillonia knew almost instantly what an extended economic slowdown would mean for the 55 workers at her family-owned business. [Furloughs — no getting around it](. So her relief was almost overwhelming when she received approval this month for a forgivable loan through the “paycheck protection program” Congress created to ensure that small businesses can keep employees on the payroll through the COVID-19 crisis. Hundreds of thousands of dollars arrived in the business’ bank account a few days later, staving off the feared cuts. “You’ve got all of these families’ lives in your hands,” Pampillonia said. “It’s a big responsibility.”  And: [Chinese investors]( seek a forced bankruptcy of North Texas developments.   Also: Plano-based [NTT Data]( is helping Austin launch a digital tool for COVID-19 contact tracing.  (Tom Fox / Staff Photographer) PHOTO OF THE WEEKEND Evacuations ordered in Grand Prairie due to natural gas fire near State Highway 360 Businesses and residents around Mayfield Road and Forum Drive in Grand Prairie were ordered to evacuate Saturday afternoon because of a large natural gas fire. The National Weather Service sent out an alert about the fire and the city ordered evacuations just after noon Saturday. Bill Murphy, assistant chief of the Grand Prairie Fire Department, told reporters at the scene that [the department does not know what caused the fire](. ADVERTISEMENT AROUND THE SITE - Education: Campus closures don’t come as a shock, but Abbott’s decision leaves [Texas students]( yearning for ‘a proper goodbye’. - Sports: [In a busy WNBA draft for Dallas]( the Wings acquire ‘generational talent’ in Oregon’s Satou Sabally with the No. 2 pick. - Food: Crawfish, barbecue and phorrito are [3 family-style takeout platters]( that will get you through the weekend. FINALLY... [The Dallas Cowboys have options in the 2020 NFL draft, but failing isn’t one of them]( Sports columnist Tim Cowlishaw writes: We are less than a week away. We feel its looming presence and, no matter how we might have felt about its overblown nature in the past, we welcome its warm embrace. The biggest draft in the history of the world begins Thursday. Every pick by every team will be scrutinized within an inch of its life, and I’m not just talking about the first round. In the Cowboys’ case, they’d better make folks happy in the first, second, third and fourth rounds and twice in the fifth. The seventh? Maybe we let that one slide. If this isn’t the most important draft in Cowboys’ history, it certainly will be treated as such. [What else is there?]( ADVERTISEMENT  👋 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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