Evening Roundup: Gas lawn equipment ban, homebuilder holding pattern and 1 million job openings

Also, woman reunited with family after being kidnapped as a child. [EVENING ROUNDUP](dallasnews.com) dallasnews.com Sponsored by: Content and story selection are solely editorial's decision. [Three people stand in a row. An elderly woman on the left, a middle-age woman in the middle and an elderly man on the right. They stand in front of a railing decorated with Christmas garland with windows further in the background.]( Melissa Highsmith (middle), who was kidnapped as a child, was reunited with her family 51 years later in Fort Worth. She's pictured here with her mother and father. (Highsmith family/Courtesy) [Woman kidnapped from Fort Worth as a child 51 years ago reunited with family in same city]( A woman who was kidnapped from Fort Worth months before her 2nd birthday was found living in the same city more than five decades later. Melissa Highsmith, 53, was abducted by a babysitter in 1971 and continued to live in Fort Worth most of her life but never knew she was kidnapped until [her biological family recently reached out](, according to a news release distributed on behalf of the family. Highsmith’s family announced their reunion Sunday on a Facebook page created by them in 2018 to help renew interest in the case and find her. Until this month, her case was one of the oldest unsolved kidnapping cases in Texas, the family said. [READ MORE](   ADVERTISEMENT   TOP STORIES [Dallas could ban all gas-powered lawn equipment to address noise, environment concerns]( Citing health, noise and environmental concerns, Dallas officials are developing plans to phase out the use of [...] [‘Crypto is done’: FTX collapse sends ripple through $78 billion sports sponsorship market]( Crypto companies poured money into sports sponsorships, but the FTX bankruptcy may squash future [...] [‘A holding pattern of uncertainty’: Homebuilders walk away from new land deals]( With many buyers on the sidelines due to affordability challenges and rising mortgage rates, builders have [...] [Help wanted: Texas has over 1 million job openings, the most ever]( With wages rising 7.6% for job-switchers, ‘You can be pretty commanding when it comes to salary.’ [Justice Department opens antitrust probe of RealPage rent-pricing software]( Congressional critics blame the Richardson real estate technology company's widely-used software for apartment [...] [READ MORE NEWS](   ADVERTISEMENT   BUSINESS [Shopping local? Here are 14 clusters of small retailers around Dallas]( Small Business Saturday was created to put local entrepreneurs in focus during the frenzy of holiday shopping. [BlockFi files for bankruptcy as crypto fallout spreads beyond FTX]( More than 36,400 Texans had invested in the cryptocurrency platform based on an earlier enforcement action [...] [Founder of popular hair extension brand headquartered in Dallas has a booming business]( Yummy Extentions, a luxury hair brand headquartered in Dallas, works to address the gap in quality beauty [...] CRIME [Dallas judges ‘taking a sledgehammer’ to prison pipeline with school education program]( Dallas County criminal court judges Amber Givens, Lisa Green, Shequitta Kelly and Stephanie Huff launched the [...] [Fort Worth gang unit investigating highway shooting that injured passenger, police say]( A passenger was shot in the head around 4 a.m. Monday on East Loop 820 [Man fatally shot while driving in southeast Oak Cliff, police say]( The suspected gunman was inside another vehicle on S. Great Trinity Forest Way, police said. POLITICS [Gov. Abbott targets discussions of gender identity in Texas schools]( Abbott's tweet is the latest signaling upcoming legislative fight over LGBTQ issues. [Texas GOP largely unaffected by abortion in midterm vote despite big impact in some states]( Uncertain next state legislative session could see anti-abortion Republicans buckle down on more restrictions [...] [Georgia officials urged to investigate Herschel Walker’s North Texas residential tax break]( State investigators are being urged to probe whether Republican Senate hopeful Herschel Walker violated the [...]   ADVERTISEMENT   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn]( [YouTube]( [Privacy Policy](dallasnews.com/privacy-policy) | [Account Login]( |[Help Center]( [Terms of Service]( | [Manage Preferences](dallasnews.com/privacy-policy| [Unsubscribe]( The Dallas Morning News 1954 Commerce Street Dallas, TX 75201 © Copyright 2022