Vigil planned for slain Mesquite officer, how the omicron variant will be detected in Texas, what's next for Bonton Farms: Your weekend roundup

Also, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot indicated he would open a criminal investigation into accusations that a state district judge ordered her court coordinator to impersonate her in an online court proceeding, according to an email exchange The Dallas Morning News obtained Friday. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  [Morning roundup]( [NEWS]( | [BUSINESS]( | [SPORTS]( | [HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS]( | [ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT]( | [FOOD]( |[STATE OF THE CITY]( | [THINGS TO DO]( | [OPINION]( | [GAMES AND PUZZLES]( 12/05/2021 By Ariyon Dailey and Carla Solórzano Good morning! Here is a look at the top headlines of the weekend so far. 🌤️ Weather: Mostly cloudy in the morning, becoming partly cloudy by afternoon. Breezy and warm. High of 77. 🔎 Prefer the online view? It's [here.]( Daron Babcock, founder and CEO of Bonton Farms, at the site of the proposed 9,000-square-foot health and wellness center for the South Dallas neighborhood of Bonton. (Rebecca Slezak/Staff Photographer) COMMENTARY [Your first look: What Bonton Farms plans next as it expands in South Dallas community]( Columnist Sharon Grigsby writes: Bonton Farms is so much more than the romance we have made of its urban gardens and entrepreneurial market, café and coffeehouse — all tucked into an unlikely greenspace where Bexar Street dead-ends into a Trinity River levee in South Dallas. [The farm’s magic lures folks from all over North Texas]( — almost none of whom previously knew the Bonton community existed. We are all welcome, of course, but that’s hardly why Daron Babcock created this healing oasis. His sights are set on the unemployable, the addicted, the formerly incarcerated, the homeless and the survivors of domestic abuse, human trafficking and near-death crises. Bonton Farms has taken small but profound steps to disrupt the cycles of oppression and neglect that have long prevented the surrounding historic Black community of 5,000 residents from growing into a place assured of even the basics of life.    DO YOU KNOW? NEWS QUIZ Calling all news nerds. Have you been paying attention to the top headlines of this week? Let’s find out if you’re in the know with our weekly Do You Know? News Quiz. Each week, we’ll give a $100 Visa gift card to one lucky quiz contestant. Congratulations to last week's winner, Steve H. from Dallas Get started on this week’s quiz below and best of luck!  [TAKE THE QUIZ]( ADVERTISEMENT BUSINESS [Dallas-area mall and big box store traffic is mostly recovering]( Customer traffic in the Dallas-Fort Worth region is tracking similar to national data. With a few local exceptions, most stores saw more customers during the Thanksgiving/Black Friday week than last year, when the pandemic’s stricter social distancing rules were in place. New data from Placer.ai gathered from 10 shopping centers for The Dallas Morning News showed that [traffic during the usually busy Black Friday week was up significantly at all the properties measured](.  Investing in change: How these [Coppell teens are using the stock market]( to aid their community.   Holiday shopping? Check out some of the Dallas area’s [most interesting new stores](.  (Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News) ADVERTISEMENT PHOTO OF THE WEEKEND [Christmas parades kick off the holiday season in North Texas]( Santa made his Yuletide debut Dec. 4 at the Dallas Holiday Parade on Commerce Street. The parade returned after the pandemic forced its cancellation last year. Weren't able to make it this weekend? [Check out other holiday celebrations across D-FW](. AROUND THE SITE - COVID-19: The omicron variant is coming soon to Texas. [Here’s how scientists will detect it](. - News: A vigil for Richard Lee Houston II, a Mesquite police officer killed in a shootout [is planned for 8 p.m. Sunday in front of the Mesquite Police Department](. - Update: DSHS lifted the emergency suspension of [Brad Cox’s paramedic license Thursday](. - Courts: Dallas County DA John Creuzot indicated he would open a criminal investigation into [accusations that a state district judge]( her court coordinator to impersonate her](. FINALLY... [Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding lands UT-Dallas’ Brettell Award]( Esperanza Spalding is a four-time Grammy Award winner, a performer so versatile and accomplished that National Public Radio once described her as "the 21st century’s jazz genius." And now, a new accolade: She’s the [winner of the 2021 Richard Brettell Award in the Arts]( bestowed every two years by the University of Texas at Dallas. That means Spalding, 37, is the third honoree to land the $150,000 prize. 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.]( [Free Newsletters]( | [Account Login]( | [Help Center]( | [Terms of Service]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Unsubscribe]( The Dallas Morning News, 1954 Commerce Street, Dallas, TX 75201, United States © Copyright 2021