More people are facing a lifetime behind bars, Gov. Abbott to decide how to spend federal COVID-19 relief money: Your Thursday morning roundup

Plus: Demonstrators take sides across Far North Dallas street to make their voices heard on Middle East conflict  [Morning roundup]( [NEWS]( | [BUSINESS]( | [SPORTS]( | [HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS]( | [ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT]( | [FOOD]( | [STATE OF THE CITY]( | [THINGS TO DO]( | [OPINION]( | [GAMES AND PUZZLES]( 05/20/2021 By Mallorie Sullivan Good morning! Here is a look at the top headlines as we start the day. ☁️🌧️ Weather: Mostly cloudy with a 40% chance of showers. High of 79. 🔎 Prefer the online view? It's [her]( ADVERTISEMENT [Chip and Joanna Gaines of ‘Fixer Upper’ have a relative running for Grapevine-Colleyville ISD school board]( [Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will decide how to spend federal COVID-19 relief money under budget compromise]( [The coronavirus variant first detected in India is now in North Texas]( [Travel buddies will open Asian street food restaurant Hawkers in Deep Ellum]( [More than 120 orange statues at NorthPark honor women in science, tech, engineering and math]( [At $39 million, grand Park Cities estate is the area’s priciest property]( [Student starts petition after Anna ISD cancels ‘sexually sensitive’ play with gay characters, secret pregnancy]( [Demonstrators take sides across Far North Dallas street to make their voices heard on Middle East conflict]( [Yankees’ Corey Kluber no-hits Rangers, notching the sixth no-no of 2021 MLB season against his former team]( [Sister of Atatiana Jefferson files lawsuit against city officials, former Fort Worth officer who killed her]( (Juan Bernabeu for The Marshall Project) INVESTIGATION [Life-without-parole sentences are exploding. But America’s legal defense system hasn’t kept pace.]( This investigation was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system, The Dallas Morning News and NBC 5. Shuranda Williams spent more than a year in the Dallas County jail, waiting to talk to someone about fighting the murder charge she faces. The police have said she was involved in the 2019 killing of a suspected drug dealer; she insists she wasn’t. If she’s convicted of capital murder, Williams, 44, faces a minimum sentence of life in prison without parole. She wanted a lawyer to help her make her case and to argue for her release from jail, but she couldn’t afford to hire one. If prosecutors had announced they were seeking the death penalty, Williams would have been guaranteed a pair of lawyers whose expertise in capital cases has been vetted by a court-appointed screening committee. The government would have paid for an investigator and a mental health expert to examine her case. And under national legal guidelines, her lawyers would have had a special obligation to aggressively assert every possible argument to defend her. But because Williams could face life without parole — a sentence that also means she would die behind bars — [she didn’t get any of that.]( TEXT THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS Want to continue the conversation? Text us and get headlines like this sent directly to your phone. 📱 Get connected. [Sign up here.]( ❓ Got questions? [We've got answers.]( *The Roundup is free to receive. Standard text messaging and data rates may apply. 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 [the newsroom.](  STAY CONNECTED WITH US [Unsubscribe]( | [Free newsletters]( | [Dallasnews.com]( | [Subscriber login]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact us]( Copyright 2021 - [The Dallas Morning News, 1954 Commerce Street, Dallas, TX 75201, United States](