Fort Worth Report • 30 September 2025

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tarrant County addresses shortage of male mentors

Arlington mother Iesha Mustafa hoped to quickly find a good role model for her 10-year-old son, Isaiah Hassell, through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. 

After two years of waiting, her hopes dwindled.

“I thought they forgot about us,” she said.

Isaiah was one of more than 400 children sitting on the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Tarrant waitlist. Delays caused by a shortage of male mentors have left boys waiting twice as long on average for a mentor than girls.

The male mentor s...

Fort Worth Report • 25 September 2025

Matcha mania in Fort Worth has shops whisking up solutions to shortages

Within a year, Ampersand co-owner Toan Luong watched matcha become one of his cafes’ most popular items.

The CEO ordered more of the tea, then more than that, and then more again. Luong now orders three to four times more matcha than the 55-pound shipments he routinely purchased four months ago.

Customer demand for matcha took him by surprise.

“We’ve run out of matcha a few times,” Luong said. “Whenever we do run out, customers are always a little bit sad, but everyone understands.”

Shop ow...

Fort Worth Report • 14 September 2025

Beloved White Settlement library cat dies after 13 years of purr-fect companionship

Sandra Rosas thoroughly read the ballot before making her selection.

It was a big decision, but she knew her favorite was the right choice: Browser.

Her vote helped name the White Settlement Public Library’s newly adopted kitten. 

A couple of years later, Rosas started working at the library, where she and Browser spent the next 13 years together.

Browser, 15, died Aug. 25 after he was euthanized due to kidney and thyroid issues. White Settlement residents and people from surrounding commun...

Fort Worth Report • 9 September 2025

Fort Worth shops adjust as THC vape ban takes effect

Nicholas Arneson, owner of Dallas Vape Delivery & Lounge on Rosedale Street, opened his business just three weeks before a ban on THC vape products took force.

He built his business on vape deliveries and leaned heavily on the product. Most of his customers were interested in THC vape products, he said.

Now, nine large boxes filled with the product sit in the back of Arneson’s store after a new law banning the sale of THC vape pens went into effect Sept. 1. Although some prepared for the loss...

Fort Worth Report • 1 September 2025

Cristo Rey Fort Worth’s $5.5M school expansion hits delay as enrollment grows

Sophomore Andrea Herrera was sitting in geometry when she became distracted.

The 15-year-old’s classroom at Cristo Rey Fort Worth College Preparatory is one of four temporary spaces set up in half of the private school’s gymnasium, now divided by lockers and racks of foldable chairs. She overheard teachers in neighboring spaces giving their lessons. 

“I kind of don’t like it as much because I get distracted very easily,” Herrera said. “Hearing the other classes going on and other sounds going...

South Bend Tribune • 25 August 2025

'Community' key to South Bend Mexican restaurant's rapid growth since pandemic opening

SOUTH BEND — When Francisco “Franky” Macias and his workers were laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic, the former production supervisor at Amerimex faced a difficult decision: Look for another corporate position or follow his dream of opening his own restaurant and risk losing everything he had left?He decided to take a leap of faith. With everything on the line — his house, his car, everything — he used all his savings and “every credit card you can imagine” to buy a rundown building with its...

South Bend Tribune • 18 August 2025

Beer, smoked meat served with a river view. Crooked Ewe puts time behind its craft

SOUTH BEND — In the 10 years Crooked Ewe Brewery & Ale House has been serving pints and smoked meat overlooking the St. Joseph River, the main goal has been to create food and beer where customers can “taste the time behind it,” restaurant co-owner Sean Meehan says.

Many of its menu items, whether a beer recipe perfected over years or smoked meat that takes nearly a month to travel from kitchen to plate, are the result of labor-intensive processes and the creative vision of the cooks or Andy Wa...

South Bend Tribune • 11 August 2025

Taste: South Bend’s newest public house offers flavors of the outdoors

SOUTH BEND — Built for live music and events, South Bend’s newest Public House boasts the largest indoor section of its now three locations. But this Public House’s outdoor seating is truly what makes this location special. Located in the same lot as the Indiana Dinosaur Museum, South Bend Public House hosts an outdoor section behind the restaurant with picnic table-style seating in small huts and fire pits amidst trees, tall grass and foliage, which includes a section of wild blueberry bushes....

South Bend Tribune • 25 July 2025

Notre Dame researcher studies bonding between father and daughter baboons in Kenya

Daddy-daughter dances have been a staple of American culture for a couple decades.

As it turns out, baboon fathers and daughters engage in a bonding ritual — grooming, in their case, rather than a formal dance — that serves a similar purpose.

“In humans, we know that people who are socially connected and feel a sense of social support live longer than people who are socially isolated,” Elizabeth Archie, a professor of behavioral ecology at the University of Notre Dame and one of the directors...

South Bend Tribune • 1 July 2025

The sounds of war in times of celebration: how fireworks affect veterans

SOUTH BEND - South Bend native Joe Siglawski enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1965, just as the U.S. began to send troops into Vietnam.Sixty years later — long after he returned home and the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, fell to the North Vietnamese — he still carries the mental and emotional scars from the war.He says he is never alone because of a constant ringing in his ear — the result of frequent gunfire and explosions. And, his son, David, said, his...

South Bend Tribune • 28 June 2025

St. Joseph County 4-H Fair celebrates its 100th opening as an event for family, community

SOUTH BEND — For Kristen Sikorski-Conklin, everything about the St. Joseph County 4-H Fair comes back to family and community.

Having been born and raised on the westside of South Bend, she grew up with the 4-H fair. And for the past 21 years, she has helped organize the event in various roles, including her positions on the board of directors. Now, as the board’s president for the past four years, Sikorski-Conklin said family and community are what she strives to provide.

“I think (the 4-H fa...

South Bend Tribune • 26 June 2025

How two Notre Dame professors are communicating science, advocacy through symphonic music

SOUTH BEND — For Lee Haines, a professor of medical entomology at the University of Notre Dame, communicating details of her work to someone who knows nothing about insects always starts by simplifying her message to what is important and applicable.And when she unveiled her commissioned symphonic project with Cynthia Katsarelis, a professor of conducting at Notre Dame, at the Notre Dame College of Science’s Pint of Science event at Chicory Café in downtown South Bend on May 19, that's exactly...

South Bend Tribune • 22 June 2025

Food, music, community — South Bend Juneteenth event celebrates Black heritage

SOUTH BEND — Dressed in white shorts and a white shirt with a “Black Lives Matter” chain around his neck, the Rev. Sylvester Williams Jr. faced the crowd, microphone in hand, as he prepared to give the opening prayer for the annual Juneteenth celebration.

“Lord help us, lest we forget how far we’ve come to get here today,” Williams said. “Lord help us, lest we forget, that you brought us from a mighty long way. Lord help us, lest we forget our forerunners who were deemed less than a human being...

South Bend Tribune • 15 June 2025

Hundreds of protestors in Niles oppose Trump policies, call on politicians to rein him in

NILES — Hundreds of people gathered on Flag Day at the intersection of 2nd and Main streets to protest President Donald Trump’s policies and actions, citing corruption, lack of due process and fear for the state of democracy.

The large crowd of demonstrators filled an otherwise quiet town with chants, cheers and horns from supporters in passing cars as part of the estimated 2,000 No Kings demonstrations happening nationwide. The demonstrations are meant to protest Trump’s planned military parad...

South Bend Tribune • 3 June 2025

Ready for their closeup: Two movie lovers buy The Bremen Theatre

BREMEN — Sean Steinke and Rex Higham found their love for cinema at a young age, wearing out VHS tapes at home and frequently going to see movies in theaters with their families, a common interest that helped form their friendship when they met more than two decades ago as freshman at Concord High School.

Now, they've bought their own movie house, The Bremen Theatre, at 103 E. Plymouth St.

“(The theater) has always been an important part of my life,” Higham said. “We became friends … and just...

South Bend Tribune • 26 May 2025

South Bend Tribune: Local News, Politics & Sports in South Bend, IN

Hundreds of residents — families, friends, children and dogs — lined the streets along South Bend's and Mishawaka’s Memorial Day parade routes with lawn chairs and blankets on Monday morning, waving American flags and cheering as the floats passed.

Old Ford and Studebaker model cars, modern and sleek sport cars, fire trucks, pickup trucks, floats and more carried veterans and other participants waving their hands or American flags toward the onlooking crowd.

South Bend Tribune • 18 May 2025

Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chair urges fellow Notre Dame grads to speak truth to power

SOUTH BEND — Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Christopher Grady issued a challenge to the 2,084 people becoming University of Notre Dame graduates at the May 18 commencement.

Grady, deemed the Navy’s “Old Salt” because of his wisdom as the longest-tenured surface warfare officer on active duty, shared stories from his service in the Arabian Gulf as a commander of various ships and posts to illustrate values of moral courage, trust in the pursuit of truth, and continuous improveme...

South Bend Tribune • 18 May 2025

Art, music and community celebrated at LangLab's 15th anniversary party in South Bend

SOUTH BEND — Brett Padgett played at one of the first shows LangLab held when it opened its doors 15 years ago.

So, he said, its was exceptionally meaningful for him to play there again on guitar and keyboard with Squirm Orchestra, the first of three bands that performed at LangLab's 15th anniversary party that drew more than 150 people to the former warehouse at 1302 High St. on May 16.

“(This night is an) amalgamation of all of the memories,” Padgett said. “It’s hard to express into words ho...

South Bend Tribune • 16 May 2025

Special Olympics Unified Champions Day brings joy and connections at Mishawaka High

MISHAWAKA — Over 100 students joined together at the annual Special Olympics Unified Champions Day event this morning at Mishawaka High School’s Steele Stadium to create a space of community and inclusiveness for learners with special needs.

Student-athletes in grades K-12 from across all seven School City Mishawaka schools participated in a wide variety of athletic events including a footrace and hurdles with different heats, an obstacle course and other activities. The event is meant to foste...

NTDaily.com • 22 December 2024

Faculty Senate meeting Dec. 13: University to require travel forms from faculty following governor’s executive order, university accreditation, construction on campus and a committee’s dissolution.

University Provost Michael McPherson and President Harrison Keller addressed the Faculty Senate Wednesday about various matters, including new university and faculty requirements to comply with Texas Executive Order GA-48.The order, signed by Gov. Abbott on Nov. 19, prohibits employees of higher education institutions from traveling for professional purposes to and accepting gifts from entities associated with countries deemed “adversarial” by the United States Chamber of Commerce in order to he...

NTDaily.com • 20 November 2024

University under fire from national advocacy organizations for Senate Bill 17 ‘overcompliance’

National organizations advocating for civil liberties and academic freedom have condemned the university in recent days for what they say is “overcompliance” with a state ban on DEI and infringement upon the academic freedom of faculty.This follows the university announcing new guidance on research and teaching in the name of Senate Bill 17 compliance, making 78 changes to graduate education course titles and descriptions and making 130 changes to undergraduate education courses, all without fac...

NTDaily.com • 12 November 2024

College of Education makes 78 changes to course titles and descriptions

The College of Education is making 78 changes to course titles and descriptions to take effect next fall.The altered courses are within the College of Education’s Department of Teacher Education and Administration. Course names and descriptions are reviewed, selected for adjustments and then rewritten by Brian McFarlin, an associate dean for undergraduate studies and research in the College of Education.According to an email sent by Assistant Professor Lok-Sze Wong to fellow faculty and obtained...

NTDaily.com • 7 November 2024

SGA unlikely to pass legislation this semester, misses 'unofficial deadline'

The Student Government Association missed the unofficial Nov. 1 deadline to introduce legislation, and will likely not pass any legislation this semester, SGA Vice President Jaidyn Watkins said.Watkins said the “unofficial deadline” marks the point where legislation no longer has the time to pass before Thanksgiving Break and be implemented before the semester ends. Watkins said legislation introduced after this point is often “tabled” during the winter break and into the following spring semest...

NTDaily.com • 3 November 2024

North Texas Daily’s state candidate guide

U.S. Congressional SenateDemocrat Colin Allred is a fourth-generation Texan born and raised in Dallas. He later graduated Baylor University and later graduated from the University of California Berkeley School of Law to eventually become a voting rights lawyer. Allred also worked in the General Counsel’s office within the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Obama Administration.Allred then represented Texas’ 32nd District in the House of Representatives for three terms. During...