City Council - workshop

you you so so Thank you. so so I don't know. so so Thank you.

Sinead, do we have any citizen comments?

Yes, Mayor, we do. We have a few. You all have three minutes to speak. And please give any handouts to me. Welcome over here. First speaker, it's going to be on... Let's go on order. Items three, it's going to be Stephen Allen followed by Lauren Anderson. So, Stephen, if you can approach that. Yep. Three minutes. Okay. Please name, state your name and address for the record.

My name is Stephen Allen. I live at 1533 Alden Street in Irving, Texas. Good morning, Mayor, council members, and city staff. Thank you for allowing me a few minutes to speak today. Before I begin, I want to thank you for your service. I know serving on council isn't easy. You make difficult decisions every day, and most of the time you only hear from people with concerns, not from those that appreciate your work. So thank you for your commitment to making Irving a great city. Today I'd like to ask one simple question. Are we doing what is most convenient for our city's criminal justice administrative system or what is best for the people the justice system is meant to serve? I'm the executive director of the Table Irving. Every day we work with low-income families trying to overcome obstacles and build better lives. Recently, I met a woman I'll call Sandy. Sandy is married with two children. She's behind on rent, struggling with health issues, and six months ago, her 10-year-old daughter was nearly killed in a hit-and-run accident at Carl Road in Grawyler. After six surgeries, her daughter is still learning to walk again. Despite all of this, Sandy was determined to move forward. Our first case management meeting was last week. We connected her with one of our employment partners. She interviewed, passed her background check, and just since that time, she started her new job this past Wednesday. That evening, driving home from her first day of work, she was stopped by Addison Police because of outstanding Irving warrants for mostly non-moving tractive violations. She spent the night in jail in Richardson and arrived at the Irving jail around 9.20 Thursday morning yesterday, just after the city's 9 a.m. magistrate hearing. Because she missed it by 20 minutes, she was told she had to remain in jail until the next morning, this morning. Yesterday afternoon, attorney Laura Anderson and I appeared before the municipal court asking that Sandy be released. We were told by the judge that Irving's magistrate policy was strict and had to be followed. Our request was denied. I respectfully ask you to consider whether that policy truly serves its intended purpose. The purpose of a magistrate hearing is to protect the citizens' constitutional rights. But if someone can be held nearly 24 extra hours simply because they missed a hearing by minutes, especially when the information can be provided through an approved online video, are we really protecting their rights? That extra day in jail cost taxpayers money, tied up law enforcement resources, and may have cost Sandy the new job that could have helped her family get back on their feet. Policies should serve people, not the other way around. So today I respectfully ask this council to review Irving's magistrate process. Please study whether there are better options, whether that's additional magistrate hearings, greater scheduling flexibility, or another approach that protects constitutional rights without unnecessarily keeping people in jail. Let's build a system that protects people's rights while also promoting justice, efficiency, and compassion. Because for families like Sandy's, one unnecessary day in jail can mean the difference between keeping a job or losing it, between climbing out of poverty or falling even deeper into it. I believe Irving can do better. I believe with your leadership, it will. Thank you for your time and for your service.

Thank you. Laura Anderson, followed by Brian Burns.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council, especially my City Councilman, Mr. Kabir. Laura Anderson, 1425 West Pioneer, Suite 114, Irving. As you all know, for 14 years, actually 24 years, I worked for the City of Irving, 10 as a prosecutor and 14 as the Irving Municipal Judge. I'm here today to talk to you about magistration. I know that the judge is getting ready to talk to you about magistration, but I want to talk to you about what occurred on May 1st of 2024. On May 1st on 2024, prior to May 1st on 2024, as an Irving municipal judge, a state judge, and a Dallas County magistrate, we... were tasked in seeing everyone who approached, who was arrested and taken to the Irving Jail. After May 1st, when the police chief put in a policy that said that the judges would no longer be able to see anyone arrested on a Dallas County charge, people were left in the jail, and nobody was magistrated, and it still occurs today. Nobody's magistrated, and I think... You're going to hear from the judge about a policy because it has overwhelmed Dallas County Jail. Literally 350 people are needlessly taken down to Dallas County Jail every day. And I just want to read you on May 1st. the policy, I was so upset about what occurred. I just want to read my day one notes. I know God is working. I am going to be patient and listen and pray that those in jail don't suffer at the hands of those without the ability to navigate circumstances of their place. My value is not in the hands of those who don't understand my mission. My value comes from above, so I will socialize. I will also work to gain understanding what to do next. I will lean into my faith. God has got this. The police chief has violated 1517 of the Code of Criminal Procedure every day since May 1st. I've sent numerous... emails in May 12th when a lady was left in jail for over 48 hours. I sent an email to both KO and the police chief explaining that they were violating the law. I know I don't have a lot more time. I only have 27 minutes. I want you to look at a couple of things. There is a book called The Municipal Courts. It explains what a magistrate does. I want you to look at the Department of Justice inquiry on the city of Ferguson, because what is happening in Irving is exactly what happened in Ferguson, Missouri. You are putting revenue over justice.

Thank you, Laura. Brian Burns, followed by Kyle Taylor.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Chairman, Commissioners, and members of the city staff.

Please state your name and address.

My name is Brian Burns, and I live at 1525 Atlanta Drive, Irving, Texas 75062. I appreciate this opportunity to speak today. I'm here because I deeply care about our neighborhood and the people who call it home. Residential neighborhoods are supposed to provide stability, safety, and sense of community. Unfortunately, the crease of short-term rentals is changing that. Many of our senior citizens no longer feel comfortable sitting on their front porches or taking walks because they never know who's staying next door. Families with young children are hesitant to let their kids play outside. There's no constant flow of strangers coming and going every few days. This is not about attacking property owners or responsible visitors. It's about protecting our character and of our neighborhoods and that we built for permanent residents, not a revolving door lodging. We already have hotels, motels, extended stay hotels throughout Irving that are designed, staffed, and regulated and zoned to accommodate short-term visitors. Residential neighborhoods were never intended to function as a commercial lodging business. What happened? When homes become short-term rentals, neighbors lose their relationship that makes communities strong. Instead of knowing who lives next door, we have to face new people every day, every week. There is less accountability, more uncertainty. Increased traffic, noise, parking, concerns, growing feeling our neighbors are no longer places where families can simply enjoy living. The residents who have invested their lives in these neighborhoods deserve better. They deserve consistency, security, and peace of mind that knows from their neighbors. I respectfully ask Planning and Zoning Commission to put interest in Irving's residents, inhibiting short-term rentals in the residential neighborhood altogether. Our neighbors should remain places where families grow, children play, and seniors feel safe. Our neighbors are known one another. Please preserve the quality of life that has made Irving such a great place to live. Thank you for your time and your service in our city.

Kyle Taylor.

Good afternoon, council. My name is Kyle Taylor. I am the president and CEO of Irving Cares. I've also been told I am now the legislative liaison to the city council for ICANN. So congratulations to me.

Address, please.

Huh?

Address.

904 Lane Street, Irving, Texas, 75061. I have three minutes, right?

Yep.

Okay. I'm not here today because of 13, 14, and 15. In case you all have questions that you go through, in case you want to have a presentation or you want to have some questions answered, I'm here to answer those questions. Thank you all.

That completes our speakers.

Thank you. Okay, city manager, city operations update.

Just one update, mayor and council. This is to wish a very happy 25th birthday to your very own city attorney. Happy birthday, KL.

Okay, item three, magistration. Rachel, you're it.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Rachel Wood, Assistant City Manager. Today I'm going to give you a briefing on several recent discussions that the city staff have had with county staff related to magistration. Before I get into those conversations, however, I thought I'd give you a brief refresher on what magistration is. Magistration is your first court appearance that's required after you've been arrested in Texas. Under Texas law, a person who's arrested must be brought before a magistrate within 48 hours of being arrested. During this appearance, the magistrate or the judge is responsible for informing the person of the charges against them, informing the person of their legal rights, as well as setting bail and bond conditions. It's important to note that magistration is purely procedural in nature and does not determine the guilt or innocence of a defendant. So some background. As I'm sure you're aware, there are different classifications of criminal offenses. In Texas, municipal courts have criminal jurisdiction over Class C misdemeanors committed within the city limits, while county courts have criminal jurisdiction over Class A and B misdemeanors, as well as all felonies. The city's interpretation of Texas law is that magistration responsibility for Class B and higher offenses and all felonies rest with Dallas County, as those offenses fall within the county court's jurisdiction. As a result of this interpretation and to improve operational efficiency, effective May 1st, the city of Irving began magistrating solely Class C misdemeanors. Since January 2026, city and county stakeholders have had regular meetings to address three key topics, first being overcrowding at Dallas County's jail, the efficient magistration of Class A and B misdemeanors as well as all felonies, and the timely transfer of defendants following magistration from the Irving Holding Facility to the Dallas County Jail. I'm not going to read this list, but I did want you to see how comprehensive and how resource intensive these conversations have been. There have been quite a few city and county stakeholders that have been engaged in these discussions over the past several months. So throughout spring of 2026, a city and county working group was focused on developing the tenants of an interlocal agreement focused on a virtual magistration solution where county magistrates would virtually magistrate class A and B offenses as well as all felonies virtually at the Irving holding facility. Those discussions were very productive and the principles were near completion by mid-April with one open issue remaining, which was the timely transfer of defendants post-magistration. So that you're aware, Irving is currently conducting daily defendant transfers to Dallas County Sheriff's Office and Dallas County is not conducting regular transfers from Irving to Dallas County. As these discussions were underway, on April 20th, the city received a letter from Sheriff Brown. She sent a letter to all law enforcement agencies notifying them that effective October 1st, the Dallas County Jail will not accept defendants who have not been properly magistrated unless a formal agreement is in place. It's important to note that to date, we have not received that agreement from the sheriff, despite the county being very firm on the October 1st effective date. After we received the sheriff's letter, communication definitely slowed with Dallas County, and from April to June of 2026, despite making repeated attempts to meet with the county team to continue pursuing that virtual magistration solution, we were not able to meet with the county team. In June of 2026, on June 18th, our city attorney's office did receive an email from the county noting that the sheriff's office would charge $567 per unmagistrated inmate in order to magistrate them at the county. This $567 fee will have a 3% annual escalator. We were able to have our first meeting since receiving the sheriff's letter on July 1st. During this meeting, we did briefly discuss the potential tenants of an interlocal agreement for virtual magistration, and then also had some discussion surrounding our concerns with Sheriff Brown's letter. Also on July 1st, Chief Miller sent a letter to Sheriff Brown acknowledging receipt of her October 1st communication and also noting that he would be seeking reimbursement for the housing and transport of magistrated defendants. This is a copy of the letter that we received from Sheriff Brown. You've got a copy of the letter at your seats along with the letter that Chief Miller sent back to the sheriff on July 1st. I think I skipped a slide. Nope. So we have several concerns with the letter that we received from Sheriff Brown. To date, the sheriff has not provided the draft agreement to the city of Irving or any other law enforcement agency in the county. Despite not having this agreement, the sheriff's office has confirmed that the effective date will remain October 1st. Also, the sheriff's letter assumes that it's the responsibility of the arresting agency to conduct magistration. The statute does not require the magistrate to be employed by, affiliated with, or serving the jurisdiction of the arresting agency. As was previously mentioned, the city's interpretation of the statute is that magistration responsibility for class A and B misdemeanors, as well as all felony offenses, rest with Dallas County as those offenses fall within the county court's jurisdiction. This is consistent with practices in both Denton County and Tarrant County. So current status, we did have our most recent meeting with Dallas County on July 13th. City participants in that discussion included the city manager's office, the city attorney's office, as well as the Irving Police Department. During that meeting, we discussed potentially proceeding with a virtual magistration solution, and Dallas County had no substantive updates on when the sheriff's agreement would be provided to law enforcement agencies and reaffirmed that October 1st effective date for the sheriff's requirement. Dallas County also noted that they did not think they would be able to go live with the virtual magistration solution by October 1st. So where we find ourselves is we've really got three potential solutions for consideration to meet the county's October 1st deadline. One is to continue pursuing video magistration. This would be where the Dallas County magistrate virtually magistrates class A and B misdemeanors and all felonies. This would require continued cooperation and ongoing coordination with Dallas County. Dallas County, again, has not confirmed when they would be ready to fully deploy this solution, and it would require a fully executed interlocal agreement to initiate the use of this solution. Our second option would be resuming conducting in-house magistration of most criminal offenses. This would require several additional resources, including a new full-time judge, one part-time alternate judge, two magistration clerks to assist with administrative support, as well as overtime for detention staff. This option provides Irving the most latitude to ensure compliance with Dallas County's new requirements and does not require an interlocal agreement to initiate. The third option would be to pay Dallas County the quoted rate of $567 per defendant to have Dallas County conduct magistration of Class A and B misdemeanors as well as all felonies. Again, that $567 per defendant fee would be escalated 3% annually. So I'm now briefly going to go into a cost comparison of those three scenarios. I'll discuss our staff recommendation, and then we're going to have Judge Acuna, Jennifer Bezorgna, as well as Chief Miller come up to talk about the impact and resources necessary for our staff recommendation. So a quick cost comparison. If we were to proceed with video magistration, we would have some one-time capital and technology costs, which would be about $135,000. Our ongoing costs, which would primarily be related to personnel, primarily detention office staff, of about $438,000 a year for a combined total of $573,000. If we were to proceed with in-house magistration, that would be where we would be taking back on the magistration of Class A and B offenses and felonies. We would have a one-time cost of $271,482. This again would include technology as well as capital expenses and ongoing costs which would be primarily personnel related of just shy of $520,000 for a combined total of just under $800,000. If we were to pursue the Dallas County Magistration, Option where we would transfer defendants to Dallas County and have them magistrated at Dallas County We're estimating it would cost the city just under two point three million dollars a year This amount was calculated based on that five hundred and sixty seven dollar per defendant rate that the county has provided us and an estimate around of around four thousand defendants needing to be transferred per year and So our staff recommendation is to provide the resources necessary to conduct magistration of Class B misdemeanor and higher offenses in-house while the defendants are in Irving custody and continue regular transport of these defendants following magistration. Our reason for this recommendation is primarily because this is the only option where the city can ensure timing of magistration and defendant transport. So I'm now going to invite Judge Acuna to come up and provide additional context related to this recommendation.

Thank you, Rachel. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Michael Acuna, presiding judge. I wanted to start by showing you the additional dockets that have been implemented since October 1st, 2024. This is not an exclusive list. We also have an expunction docket that we've started. And this is in addition to the pre-existing dockets that were in place. Some of these are required by statute. Some of these were for enhanced efficiency of our court procedures for everyone. In addition, this is just as what is happening in the courtroom. Judges are also ruling on motions that are submitted through correspondence or electronically through different cues. This is why we need the three judges. Chapter 12 of the Texas Penal Code lays out the classification of criminal offenses. And as you can see from this slide, there are five different classifications of felonies and three different classifications of misdemeanors. Out of these eight categories, municipal courts have trialed jurisdiction over one, the class C fine only offenses. Dallas County would have jurisdiction, trial jurisdiction of the rest. Dallas County has, well, all of their elected criminal judges are magistrates, and they also have appointed magistrates for daytime and nighttime magistration, which we do not have. We have three full-time judges. If the council votes to return to in-house magistration, then our judges would be performing a magistration on these higher class offenses in addition to what we're already doing now. Therefore, if the council sees fit to vote to resume in-house magistration, I would respectfully submit and ask for your approval for an additional full-time judge and a part-time judge, which we call an alternate judge here in the city of Irving. And there are a few reasons for this. This would be in addition, one, to the magistration docket we already performed for the fine only offenses. This will then render every day a full work day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. And I don't think it's right to ask judges to work seven days a week, full work days. But every eligible defendant charged with Class B misdemeanor or must be individually magistrated. This isn't something you can do in batches. You have to talk to each one of them. You have to engage each one of them to make the decision. The process will take, I believe, five to six hours a day on these offenses. Again, that'll be in addition to the magistration docket we already performed for the fine-only offenses. I had my office do a survey for one month of how many transfer warrants we signed. Those are individual probable cause determinations for people charged with higher offenses. And the average per day for that 30 day period was about sixteen people or sixteen transfer warrants if all of those are people and it takes twenty minutes to do each one of those you can see how it very quickly will add up to ours this is not just talking to them this is the magistrate must look at some documents in preparation for the uh... encounter with the defendant must review certain documents such as a financial affidavit to know what the defendant is capable of doing in terms of the amount of posting bond And by law, the magistrate must also look at the public safety report system, look at the criminal history, because that must be considered by statute in terms of assessing bond amounts. Also, state law mandates that the magistrate retains jurisdiction until the district attorney files the criminal charge and it is assigned to a trial court. Therefore, any motions that would be filed during that time would stay with the magistrate's jurisdiction. So our Irving magistrates will make decisions on that and be asked to rule on those motions. So I also believe at least one additional docket would need to be created to handle those types of motions. And again, this will be seven days a week, 365 days a year. In addition, after the magistrate has talked to the defendant and made a bond decision and issued conditions of bond, the magistrate by law must certify certain things and make sure that the bond conditions and the amount of bond has been entered into the public safety report system so DPS can access it. So in addition to the additional dockets and the request for additional personnel, I also would note to the council, I don't have a place for that judge to sit. So there would be a request for a capital expenditure to build out an office, a desk, a chair, things like that, that every other employee has. And with that, I would be happy to answer any questions if you have any now. If not, I would turn it over to my colleague, our illustrious Court Administrator, Jennifer Bezornia.

Anybody in the council? Yes, Mark.

Judge, the letter from April 20th, the sheriff says that the practice of having the Dallas County do the magistrating, it says it shifts the arresting agency's statutory responsibilities for magistration to the Dallas County Sheriff's Office. Is that your understanding? This is saying that the sheriff here is saying it's the arresting agency's responsibility. So Irving P.D. ? Has that responsibility? Is that what they're saying?

That is what the sheriff is saying, yes, Councilmember, but nowhere in Article 1517A does it say that. That's an assumption I believe the sheriff is making, that it's not supported by the direct language of the statute.

And historically, it's always been that if somebody's arrested for class B or higher, that they're taken to Dallas County and they magistrate them in and then process them in the jail there, right?

Yes and no. Yes, that is historically what's been done. But in Irving, magistrates and all municipal court judges are magistrates by virtue of being appointed to that position. And the city of Irving did perform the magistrate function for higher class offenses until May 1st of 2024.

Councilman Cronenweth, on that particular issue about the statutory responsibilities, we will be providing some advice to you regarding several elements of kind of those responsibilities. So I can answer those questions in a little bit more detail in executive session. Okay, thank you.

Okay. Judge, let me ask a question. Is there any other from the council? Okay, let me, you talk about one and a half judge, additions to the three of you at this time. Am I correct? Yes. We do have two part-times that are working on. Am I also correct on that?

Yes, Mayor. You are.

Okay. I thought I had heard or the discussion, maybe Chris, you and I talked about this, and where we were looking at two additional judges. Excuse me. Give me a sense of why we go one and a half versus two. Because if we're going to get into this, then I guess we ought to get in with both feet as opposed to trying to limp it in.

Yes, sir. Well, I guess I'll say it this way. I would welcome any additional staff council would see fit to appoint and approve, but because of limitations of space at this point and other, I think, budgetary considerations, I need at least one full-time judge. The part-time judge is... My intent was to ask that person to work on weekends and holidays so the judges didn't have to work seven days a week on that. But the two alternate judges we already have, Their main function is to answer late night phone calls for warrants between 10 PM and 6 AM, so the full time judges can get some sleep. They were not really hired with the expectation that they would work daytime dockets or on weekends, and both of them already have full time jobs. But as I have mentioned to the council before, it is my intent that any future appointees for that position would be hired with the expectation that they would be trained to work daytime and weekend dockets.

Jennifer, do you have any comments on this because from your administration side?

I would just say that if council chooses to resume the in-house magistration, I would respectfully ask for the additional personnel and capital expenditure. Thank you. That's why I asked it.

I have another question, Mayor. Yes. Judge Acuna or, I'm sorry, Jennifer, were you going to say something? I didn't mean to cut you off.

Oh, no. I'm going next, so please feel free to ask.

This this letter to from April 20th. It seems incongruous to me the opening statement. It says Dallas County jails are over over capacity and You're causing a problem by bringing us inmates that are haven't already been magistrated But they're either gonna be magistrated by the cities or by the county and the county then has the responsibility to jail them So I'm not I'm not seeing that relationship. Did can you do you understand that I?

I read it the same way you do, Councilmember.

Okay, thank you. I guess I was really, while you're both up there, but Jennifer, I mean, I guess I'm understanding, and Chris, you could probably answer this easily for me, that you basically are saying we don't have the actual office space for two more additional. Am I hearing that correctly? Well, that

For the full-time judge, the part-time judge would be able to use some of the same office space if we build out one more office for a fourth judge.

Okay. Yes, sir. That's what I thought. That's why I was looking at Jennifer. She might have some comments on that part of it. But at this point, I guess I'm trying to, that's something I'm sure, Chris, you'll get into.

Yeah, and that would be the capital cost that Rachel identified right up front in order to build out that additional office space, as well as some changes over in the jail, which the chief will be talking about here in a second.

So we're really talking about building out an existing facilities? Yes. Expanding them?

It would not be expanding the existing facilities. We would just shoehorn everything in. Okay. Thank you. Okay.

All right. Good afternoon. Jennifer Buzorgnia, Court Services Director, and I will be speaking to the impact on court operations. As Judge Acuna just laid out for you, the requirement for our judiciary support for Class B and above magistration also requires a clerical support component. And what we would be requesting is two magistration clerks. We imagine them having a staggered work schedule to ensure that the Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays are covered. Because again, as Judge Acuna mentioned, seven days a week, 365 days per year, magistrations would occur. In addition to supporting the judge during the docket, there's also preparation before the docket and preparation after the docket for dispensing that paperwork to the appropriate places that it needs to go. Because we don't retain jurisdiction over the cases themselves, they're not filed at the municipal court. And so there's a lot of required liaising between Dallas County, for instance, our records department, our court teams, and other potential stakeholders. As Judge Acuna also mentioned, because they retain jurisdiction between the time that the case is filed and the time that the magistration occurs, all of those dockets occur at the municipal court as well. And so clerical support would be required to notify, identify those defendants, ensure that they come back to court if they need to, and any follow-up paperwork or necessity thereafter. Finally, the defendant release information and outcomes, it helps with the continuity of both of those requirements. And so by having these two additional positions, we feel like we'll be able to effectively support both the judiciary and our jail teams.

Any questions? Any questions? Okay, thank you. Chief?

Good afternoon, Derek Miller, Chief of Police. The impact on the Irving Police Department will remain essentially the same. Because after someone is magistrated, they become the jurisdiction of the sheriff. A couple of the fact that the Irving Detention Facility is not a jail in accordance with state jail standards. There are many things our detention facility lacks and we cannot have the long-term housing of prisoners. The police department post-magistration will immediately transfer all magistrated prisoners to the Dallas County Jail for the sheriff to tender their custody. So however often that happens a day, we will become even more efficient at transporting prisoners to Dallas County Jail.

Thank you.

So Mayor and Council, in terms of next steps, we are seeking consensus from Council to proceed with the staff recommendation today. If we do receive consensus from you, we will then identify the resources necessary to proceed with the in-house magistration solution of Class B misdemeanor and higher offenses. Following that, we will make the necessary capital improvements and technology purchases to support the new staff. We'll then hire and train those new staff and go live with the in-house magistration solution prior to the sheriff's October 1st deadline. With that, we can continue the discussion with you. Most importantly, though, we want to make sure you know we are seeking consensus from you today on proceeding with the in-house magistration solution. Thank you.

Questions?

Members? Yes. Thank you. Is there hybrid solution between video and...

We actually were having discussions about that yesterday. Potentially, unfortunately, because we do have the October 1st deadline, we would need to bring on the judiciary staff now, as well as the clerical support staff now. But there could be a scenario in the future, especially as we look at weekends, as we look at holidays, to look at, especially since Dallas County has said they're still open to the virtual magistration solution. having Dallas County magistrates provide some level of support for virtual magistration. We just know that we're working against that October 1st deadline, so we need to plan for what we have control over right now.

And I'm going to, if I may just follow up with an answer, the staff, the Dallas County staff has said that they are open to the video magistration. This is, as I understand, not gone before the County Commission, so I don't know if there's necessarily commission support to do that as well. But as staffs, we've been continuing to work together to try and figure out these solutions. But I don't have any sense from Dallas County in terms of its commission on where they would sit or not sit on that.

Excuse me, Mark. David's next. David, excuse me.

I had the same comment that Fahad just made that I understand this deadline. I think long-term... The video is much more efficient and much more timely for staffing levels just to get the process a lot quicker for people coming into our jail. I think we'll find that's been widely used around the country already and very efficient. So I would, other than this October 1st deadline, which I understand you're up against, really want to move towards that overall solution going forward.

We feel that that is also the best solution. As we have been working with the county, again, as Rachel mentioned, our conversations were going very well up until the April timeframe when we then received the letter from Sheriff Brown with her statements that she made. we were not able to meet with the county for several months after that. We were finally able to meet, I think it was in June or July, I think it was July, yeah, July. So it was three months before we were able to meet with the county again. I still feel strongly that video magistration and that having the county magistrate its class Bs and above through the video is the most efficient and effective process for both the city and the county. And I would encourage the county to continue to consider that opportunity. The working group has worked very hard. That was the solution they came up with. That is not a solution that is new to how other counties do it. Tarrant County does the exact same thing. So we feel that that is the solution. Unfortunately, we have a deadline. I believe an artificial deadline from the sheriff's office that is forcing us into this situation So we will move forward with what is best and most efficient for us as a city with the hopeful continued conversation with the county to address in a much more efficient manner these opportunities for magistration.

And for the in-house magistration, that's already done by video, right?

Correct.

Before what? The Class Cs now and then previously?

Yes.

Right. Yes, see, a big part of the analysis, of course, is the cost. And the third option is way more expensive because of the cost per magistration. What's the legal basis for Dallas County to charge that? Is that for KO later, too, for legal advice? Okay, thank you.

John. Thank you, Mayor. So if we were to, in light of the October deadline, move forward with the staff recommendation, how easily could we pivot to the first option if and when that becomes an option?

I can provide a few quick thoughts. Judge Acuna, you may want to also provide some thoughts as well. Your appointments for judges are two years. And so the moment you make that appointment, excuse me, they will be in the service for two years. And how we would then modify and move, we would work that through. But most importantly, because, again, this October 1st deadline, we will need, in order to move forward with the staff's recommendation on bringing this back in-house, we have to move quickly now to get the judges in place and to get the staffing in place. You will see when you receive your city manager's recommended proposed budget tomorrow that This has been baked into the proposed budget, so the resources are there to get this done. And as we look forward to what I again believe is the best opportunity, I would like to work with the county to see how we can then begin to transition that process over whatever period of time may be. But just please know and understand that when you make those appointments, they are two-year appointments. Is that correct, Judge?

He's coming up to answer the question.

Yes, Mr. Hillman, chapter 30 of the government code state law provides that an appointment of a municipal court judge for a court of record is a definite term of either two or four years, and the city of Irving has codified two years.

So it's also my understanding that a magistrate does not have to be a judge. Is that correct?

There is a statutory provision for the county that allows them to appoint certain people as magistrates and they are not judges. I'm not aware of any corollary for the municipal court level.

Okay, so at the municipal court level, if we want to have someone doing magistration, they have to be a judge?

That's my understanding, yes, sir.

Okay. And by charter, that judge has to live in the city of Irving as well.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, Dennis.

I have a question. Judge, you can address this for me. I am referencing back to Mr. Allen's comment about that situation without getting into the situation, the policy. Is there any flexibility? If you could explain the policy of magistration at the City of Irving municipal courts used now, is it once a day only period, that is it, no flexibility, or is there flexibility like in that case that he mentioned to maybe Magistrate that person so that they can possibly not lose a job maybe.

No. Councilmember, we have a published schedule docket for 9 a.m. because the law requires public accessibility to magistrative procedures. We've worked with Chief Miller and his staff to make sure that it is publicly accessible. It's posted on the website when people will be seen. So to change it, sua sponte. might run afoul of public accessibility requirements. Also, I do have judges doing other things. They have other assignments. I have dedicated a judge for that docket every day, rain or shine, 365 days a year. And so that would necessitate stopping something else and pulling a judge to do that. But is that possible to do? It would be possible, sir, if I had a judge sitting there working

waiting for nothing else but anybody who might walk in through the door making the request yes it's but it's possible yet and that's what i'm getting at because of course this person in walking through the door you're also brought in brother so that uh... and uh... and i want to get that isn't up and i'm not organ anything i'm just i'm just interested in a try to figure out if i've got somebody who got booked into my jail at nine twenty and you know and under that circumstance we've mentioned very critical for a person who just started a job the day before not to have to be off two days in a row, but possibly there's a way that the courts could somehow figure out a way to get that person out of that jail without them having to spend 24 more hours in a jail. You know, that's all I'm getting at is that flexibility available. I'm not asking you to have somebody sitting there waiting for the person to walk in off the street, but I'm just asking, can that be taken into consideration in some of these situations? Because, again, our task is to, yes, you know, admit the law and everything, but also taking into consideration people's situations. So that's all I'm asking, is that possible? Is that flexible that we could take a look at something like that?

Yes, Councilmember, it would be possible if I set aside a judge to be available whenever someone walks in, but there are also other facets to that. Clerks have to prepare certain paperwork. The system has to be put on the docket, for example. We have to make sure the public has notice of it. But, yes, it would be possible. It would be somewhat difficult, and it would tie up a judge just to – sit there and be available or do some very light work in case someone walks in. Yes, sir.

Okay, Adam. Excuse me, Bob. Thank you. Maybe for Rachel, this one. So I'm still kind of stuck on this video magistration, and I understand the October 1st date. I was just talking to Mark here as well. If we go with the Dallas County Magistration, That has kind of served to us on a platter. We don't have to do anything. It's continuing business as usual. Is there a term there that we have to sign into, or can we get into that with them while we get ready and we're not cornered into this October 1st date?

We would need to enter into an agreement with Dallas County.

Okay. Maybe we can discuss that a little bit later.

We have not received that agreement. So the agreement that is mentioned in the sheriff's letter, although we've made repeated requests for that, we have not received that. So to answer your question, it's like until we receive the draft, we have no idea except for the cost piece. We don't know the term. We don't know the parameters of that situation. So that is a big question mark at this point.

In the sheriff's representative at our last meeting, As we followed up with her on when that ILA would be available, what we would hope would be a draft ILA that we would want to provide feedback and input on, the sheriff's representative was very clear that they would not be receiving any input on that ILA and that it would be an ILA that would be presented and that would be approved as is if it were to be approved.

Mayor, one last thing, and Judge Acuna. So back to Dennis's question or comment that Dennis just made on the particular case we heard just a little while ago. We would be doing all magistrations here as well as bond and anything, and they'd be released from our facility. So we would not be transporting them to Dallas County for the most part.

Well, that would depend on a few factors, sir. Okay. One would be if they're eligible for bond. There have been some legislative changes over the last several sessions that affect that. There are some cases now where we actually could not set bond. For example, if somebody is already out on bond for felony and they allegedly commit a new offense, state law now says only the judge who made the original bond decision can make this new bond decision. So that would be one. Another would be if the person could actually make bond. So if the judge goes through the process and sets bond at X amount of dollars and they can't make bond, then they would be transported there too. Yes, sir.

But versus today, versus October 1st, if we do one and two, we're doing three today already, correct? No. We're sending everybody to Dallas County for magistration. Yes. This is just paying them to do it rather than us driving them out there. Yes, sir. But we're moving to one and two, which changes magistration back to our jail. So today we're sending all Bs, As, and felonies to Dallas County without the magistration here, correct?

Yes, sir.

We would be magistrating everything here on October 1st. Yes.

Everything that we would be legally authorized to do. Yes, sir.

So, and not get into specific scenarios that they can make bond and all this, but this will be a faster process for people getting, it won't be the two, three days, maybe sitting here in Dallas County, it'll be sitting here for the most part. It'll be a change from today's.

Yes.

Yes, sir. Okay.

In the challenge.

Do you want to make a comment on this?

Yes, I do. Our detention facility is not large, and the more people that we house in our jail, we have to then open up housing, which causes issues in our detention facility. It is, in my opinion and in my experience, when someone is magistrated, they don't just get out of jail in 30 minutes. It is a multi, multi-hour process by which someone has to still drive down to the Dallas County Jail to start the release process. and it's ours, and what that equals is the persons in our jail post-magistration still having to be cared for and fed in facilities that aren't designed to do that. So I will be transporting those prisoners post-magistration to the Dallas County Jail because they'll be the responsibility to share.

Gotcha. And with that, is this a correct cost estimate for us with what the Chief just said?

Yes, sir.

With the jail space and your personnel as well. Those are these estimates? Yes, sir. With you fully doing this? Okay.

Again, I think the best solution, again, is a video magistration. If the sheriff were willing to be flexible on the date, that would allow the county, which, again, at the staff level has been willing to have these conversations and to move forward with this recommendation, us to you and them to their court, that is the, I believe, again, the best solution. But the sheriff has said unequivocally that the October 1st deadline is it. And when we lost a number of months trying to continue to work through these conversations We are where we're at now from a timing perspective, and the October 1st deadline, which is unmovable, is where we're at.

Okay. Let me, before anybody else might have a comment or two. Okay, let me see if I can kind of roll this back and really make it so that at least we're clear on how we're going and what we're being asked to at least give our blessing to go forward on it. We have to move a person that has been detained by our police and put in our facility within 48 hours. Am I correct?

Yes.

Who wants to take that? Judge, you want to take it? Yes. Yeah, and I think you ought to stay there for a minute because there's a few things I want to finish with.

Yes, sir. State law requires that person who has custody of an arrested person must take that person before a magistrate within 48 hours. Yes, sir.

Okay. If we go with, assuming we go and agree to then the hire of two full-time judges, my assumption is, what's the buildup after post-October 1? Do we intend that they're going to both be focused and full-bore at that point, or is there going to be... I'm trying to get a sense. I understand the deadline. I also understand... that if we acquiesce to it, I guess the sheriff's going to be happy because she's got rid of that problem real quick. At the same time, the other option was she'd be getting $500-plus, okay? She's got problems. We all know that Dallas County, as far as the sheriff's department, has got other kind of problems, both capacity, they're out of space, et cetera, et cetera. So I'm not going to go there. But I'm trying to understand really clearly, that's going to give you, meaning Chris, the ability to go forward and try to get this process done prior to October 1, or let's say September 15, whatever that date is. But you also made a statement, if I'm correct, that you've accommodated for to accommodate this for two full-time judges. Am I correct?

Well, what the judge has put in, a full-time judge and then a part-time judge.

Oh, now we've changed it to one and a half. Is that correct?

Well, that's what was requested.

Well, I just asked him. I'm asking the others because I don't want to get in a situation where we go here and then you may not have put enough money in and then you're going to have to go dig again. So I guess I want to get it real clear. And if there's going to be that kind of go forward with one and a half, What's going to be the delta that you may have to then kick it back up, Chris? I mean, that's kind of where my head's at, because at the end of the day, if we're going to live with this, we might as well have it, because I'm really hearing that this is going to ramp up, and we've got some technology applications. There's a lot of things. So give us your final ask.

My goal is that I don't believe that we should be living with this, that the Class Bs and above are the responsibility of the county to magistrate. Because that is where those defendants will be heard in court. For the efficiency and the effectiveness, and I think the continuity of those defendants, they should be seen and heard in the courts that they're going to be in front of. That is the most efficient for them. Now, we are not at that point right now. In fact, we have an entity that doesn't believe that. So my goal and what my recommendation would be to the council is that this is not something that we continue to do forevermore because I strongly believe that Class Bs and above are the responsibility of the county. Those are the courts that they will be heard and seen.

But you also said something, if I'm correct, and Judge, correct me if I'm not right on this, is that once we hire a judge, that's for two years. Okay. I'm trying to parse what's the impact, number one, and how are we going to fulfill whatever we're going forward to include the cost side of it. But you've already said you put the money or allocated it for one and a half judges. Am I correct?

Yes. That is what will be proposed, and you will see in the budget tomorrow.

Why don't you try two, and we only hire one, and then when we get there, we hire the second one.

I'm happy to do as counsel directs, yes, sir.

Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Last comments anybody Okay Council what's your feelings?

Given the given the paucity of good options my preference would be to go with the second option the staff recommendation So that's what I would like to go with you want to repeat that what that is Okay, okay

Good. Mayor and Council, can I just request that I just get a consensus direction? That way, as staff, we can begin the process of moving forward. It would be in your budget to have the resources necessary beginning October 1st, but there would be a lot of work that needs to get done in that meantime. So I just want to make sure that I know it's before you pass your budget. You haven't finalized that.

Thank you, Chris, because I was going to go there next and say it. We haven't passed the budget, so you're going to bring it forward in the budget so we look at it. We still have the option, though, if we want to go to one and a half. Okay.

I just want to make sure that we can begin the process of getting this moving forward. Luis, did you understand what I just did?

Yeah, I just want to second that comment. I'm all for it. Staff's recommendation sounds fine. Okay, good. All right.

Yes, go ahead. We good?

Okay.

Are we going to go into executive session for these legal questions?

Yes, sir, we can do that. Yeah, I'd like to do that. Let's do that. Mayor, there are other executive session items for efficiency. Would you like to knock all of those out at one time, or would you prefer to wait?

I think we've got them. Let's do it all at one time. Okay. Thank you, sir. You all agree?

Okay. All right. The time is 2.01. Thank you, Mayor. The time is 2.01. The Irving City Council will convene into a closed executive session. to receive legal advice, to discuss economic development negotiations pursuant to Open Meetings Act Sections 551.087 and 551.071.

Backing to the town.

We're all residents here and we just want to know what are we doing and is the city council doing the right thing or the city leaders doing the right thing?

A town hall conversation on the future of public transportation and data centers in Irving. Supplies for success. It does feel like we're being taken care of. Mountains of backpacks with all the school essentials going to the Irving kids who need them most before they head back to classes. Those stories plus a new tactical training center preparing Irving police to protect the public now on City Source. Hundreds of volunteers stuffed thousands of backpacks to make sure Irving kids have the school head start they need. Hello, and welcome to City Source. I'm Nick Laun. That story's still ahead, but we begin with a town hall meeting where residents got an update on the new Irving Connector public transportation and heard how the city is tackling one of the biggest topics of today, data centers. More than 100 Irving residents came to a town hall hosted by council members David Pfaff and John Block. On the agenda, an update on the new transit service Irving Connector. What does transportation look like?

Is it better? Is it worse? We'll give you feedback. But also you'll get to see the people behind the scenes on that as well.

As presented at the town hall, more than 1,800 riders have taken Irving Connector routes 225 and 255 since it launched in June. And 135 people have hopped onto the loop at Las Colinas in the three weeks it's been operating.

The Irving Connector has been absolutely great. It's helped people that are disabled like me and other people where I live.

The town hall also addressed the City of Irving's approach to a hot-button topic today, data centers.

The data centers, I am totally against data centers. I just think it's not safe for the city.

Everyone is using data today, and we do need it. We just need it to be done in a safe way.

City leaders laid out to residents the requirements Irving has on zoning, land use, noise and water use for the data centers already in town.

You know, we have four data centers approved in the city, two of them in operation. So they've been around for a long time.

When people see, especially data centers in their community, the things that they're asking for their city to do to protect them, we've already done here.

City leaders also assured that the biggest data centers, those more than 10,000 square feet, can't come to the city.

At the hyperscale centers, we don't have that amount of land in Irving. So that really can't happen here. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be concerned. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't have concerns. created our standards because we care about our community.

It was a town hall conversation that left many with the hope for a stable future for Irving, city leaders and residents alike.

They're our boss. We're the link between them and the city. So it's very important for that lane of communication to stay open.

And you can see the City of Irving's data center regulations for yourself by logging on to irvingtx.gov slash planning and irvingtx.gov slash data dash centers. City leaders say they'll keep studying the Irving Connector to see if they can add more ways to streamline transportation, including better connections between Irving Connector vans and DART. And speaking of the Irving Connector, we got another look at all the places you can go on the loop at Las Colinas. My colleagues Robert Sheik and Susan Stevens join me on the loop.

I'm Susan Stevens. On Irving Spotlight, we regularly highlight all that's available at the Toyota Music Factory. The Loop at Las Clinas makes it super easy to see a movie, catch a concert, or grab a treat. The vans are great for visitors staying at one of the hotels in the area to experience all you can do and see in the Urban Center.

We're here in one of my favorite parts of Irving, and now there's a new easy way to get here. It's the Irving Connector Loop at Las Colinas. It takes you all around the urban center area. So you can come down here if you want to come down to Water Street, maybe check out the awesome Mustangs at Las Colinas over at Williams Square, and then come back over here and maybe go grab lunch, dinner, whatever it is. I'm going to go grab some lunch right now and then hop back on the Irving Connector Loop at Las Colinas to get where I need to go.

I'm Nick Lawton with CitySource. Another great thing you can do on the loop at Las Colinas is connect with a DART train. There are two stops along the loop where you can make the connection. I'm at Las Colinas station right now, which is an easy transfer to the Orange Line to get to DFW Airport or go into Dallas. And another great thing about this loop at Las Colinas stop, when you step off, you are right on the Lake Carolyn Promenade.

It's one of the reasons they call it the Irving Connector.

And you can catch up on all the recent stories we've done on the Irving Connector on our playlist at youtube.com slash the city of Irving. Well, keeping their edge when it comes to public safety, that's what Irving police are aiming for now that their new tactical training center is operational. Robert Sheik takes us inside.

Irving police officers, including Chief Derek Miller, are getting in some morning target practice. This is inside the new Police Tactical Training Center, a facility designed to allow officers to train for a number of different scenarios.

This facility is more than just a gun range. This facility is a tactical training center. The threats that police officers are seeing in our country today are unlike any other. And so being able to have flexibility in our training, dynamics in our training is paramount. And so a facility like this allows us to do those things.

We document every shot we take. City leaders toured the new facility and watched as officers demonstrated some of their training exercises here.

It's unbelievable the amount of training that they go through and the skill level they already have.

And the only way you make that happen is train, train and train.

As police training continues to evolve... This facility allows Irving PD to stay at the cutting edge of modern tactics, part of the city's commitment to public safety.

We want to make sure that we're making great investments into our public safety facilities. Just last week, we opened our brand new fire station eight. This week, we're now opening up our brand new tactical training facility. It really shows how important it is to continue to invest in our public safety.

An investment to protect and serve Irving with highly trained officers. Robert Sheik for CitySource.

Construction is underway on the new Mustang Park multi-generational facility. Our cameras were there as the contractor installed some precast slabs. Next up, the project's going vertical. Structural steel installation is expected to take four to six weeks, finishing in mid-September. That's when there will be a beam signing ceremony. We'll, of course, keep you up to date on all the latest progress. Every single piece of this backpack mountain went toward making sure no Irving child was left behind going back to school. The Irving Schools Foundation's annual Supplies for Success Drive is a day hundreds of volunteers helped prepare for. getting the perfect backpack for the new school year. That's an experience these volunteers for the Irving Schools Foundation want to make sure every kid gets. They'll climb a mountain of donated backpacks to do it. even though there's a few cave-ins.

School is hard as it is, so not even having the basic, you know, things that you need to get by, I mean, that's tough. So if we can do anything to help out, we're always happy to do it.

At this Supplies for Success drive, hundreds of volunteers work to give out thousands of backpacks. ISF leaders say the need in the community is great.

Unfortunately, I've seen it grow so much. When I first started, I think we probably gave out about 1,000 backpacks, and we thought that was so much, and we just were so overwhelmed by it, and now we're almost at 7,000.

So volunteers work for days to stuff every backpack with donated school essentials.

A glue stick, some headphones. They also have an eraser, colored pencils, crayons, markers, everything they need to get started for the school year.

And they work fast.

100 backpacks, yeah.

Less than an hour.

Less than an hour, yes.

And all those days of work? lead up to moments like these.

He's going to pre-K. It does feel like we're, you know, being taken care of as a community, coming together and doing this and seeing all the people here, especially the volunteers. It feels really good.

And thanks to generous donations and tireless volunteers, family after family left the Supplies for Success drive with a head start for their kids.

Our volunteers are pumped up. They serve. They are true leaders with heart because that's what we're here for. We're here to serve. Just hope everybody has a great school year.

And now we get to one of the best segments of City Source Pet of the Week right here. We are at Irving Animal Care Campus. Joining with me now is Egan Dobson, Outreach Coordinator with this latest Pet of the Week. And he is ready. He's got all this energy. This is Bull Weevil.

So Bull Weevil, he is the life of the party, if you couldn't already tell. He's quite the lover. He's about a year old. He's super dog friendly. We're pretty sure he's also potty trained, crate trained, and he is ready to find his forever home.

Oh, absolutely. And this guy has so much love in his heart. He's not even looking at the camera. He's looking right at the both of us. He wants to give us all the love. What can you tell us about what would be the ideal family for Bo Weevil?

So somebody who might like to be a little active, go on a walk every once in a while. Bo Weevil does love his balls. He's a catch and retrieve kind of guy. So somebody who wouldn't mind spending some quality time outside.

another way that you can get a lot of exercise out of dogs like this. Would Bo' Weevil do well around kids, you think?

I think so. Maybe some older kids. Maybe not too young, because he is very fun, very energetic. Oh, yeah. So maybe somebody, you know, in their teens. But he is a very good boy and would be a good first-time dog as well.

How has he reacted around other dogs and maybe cats?

So cats, we're right next to a bunch of cats right now. He could care less, and he loves to play with his doggy friends.

That's absolutely perfect. If you want to get a chance to adopt a bull weevil right now and have all this loving for yourself, how would people go about doing that?

So they can come during our business hours. We're open most Tuesdays through Saturdays at the Irving Animal Care Campus here in Irving, Texas. And they can stop on in, ask to meet this goofy guy, and we can kind of set a meet and greet up and start the adoption process.

And for people seeing this segment right now who may not have the ability to adopt Bo Weevil here, but they still want to make a difference in the animals in these shelters, how else can they help?

So we're always looking for more fosters. We're looking for more volunteers. Even donating off our Amazon wish list and things like that always help the pets here at the shelter.

And we've got a big event coming up here, Clear the Shelters, and you guys are actually running an adoption special all August, aren't you?

We are. So starting August 1st all the way until August 29th, everybody here at the Animal Care Campus is $25 to adopt. On the 29th is our Clear the Shelter day where all adoption fees are waived, so everybody will be free to go home.

Perfect, perfect. And as you can see, Bull Weevil wants you to get out here and help out and he's ready for a good home. And so building up to the Clear the Shelter event and those adoption specials that you're running, what else can you tell us about what's happening?

So we do have another big event called the Mega Adoption Event. It's hosted by the Humane Society of North Texas and Petco Love. It will be in Fort Worth on the 15th and 16th of August. It is free to attend. There's going to be 20 plus North Texas rescues and animal shelters all under one roof with 1,200 available animals ready to be adopted.

That's wonderful. Egan, thank you so much for joining us. And of course, again, this is Bull Weevil. He's ready for his forever home. So if you see him right here and you want to take him home, you can come on down here to the Irving Animal Care Campus and ask for Bull Weevil specifically. And you can check out the website on your screen right now to see even more adorable, adoptable animals. City leaders and a longtime local business coming together for a good cause. On the next City Source, the community effort to help Irving kids look their best before they head back to school. And celebrating those in our community making a lasting impact. We'll take you to the latest Keep Irving Beautiful Awards. Those stories and more next time on City Source. Well, here's how you can connect with us. You can email us at ICTN at IrvingTX.gov. Our YouTube channel is YouTube.com slash the City of Irving. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss anything. And we always like it when you leave us positive comments. Let us know you are watching. And you can look for updates on events and initiatives across the major social media platforms at the City of Irving. That does it for this edition of City Source. Thanks for watching. Stay cool out there, and we'll see you back here next time.

Family fun. Discover how the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Lost Cleanest is entertaining kids and their parents with movies and more this summer.

Just get to spend time together and do something fun.

magical moments. The South Irving Library provides an afternoon of wonder and awe as Sam the Magic Man entertains the community with interactive tricks and illusions.

I have some card tricks. I put a balloon on my head and there might be an animal that comes out.

Football icon. Experience a special exhibit at the Irving Archives and Museum, highlighting the life and success of former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry.

Even if you're not a sports person, you can recognize human emotion in these images.

And classic drama. We preview the newest main stage production, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's Inherit the Wind.

If one message comes through, it's respect. Show respect to everyone and their thoughts.

Hello everyone, welcome to Irving Spotlight. I'm Susan Stevens. We begin tonight with a summer series that's turning a trip to the movies into a family event. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Lost Cleanest offers a kids camp, family movie parties, discounted tickets, and more ways for parents and their loved ones to have unforgettable cinematic fun all season long. A trip to the movies can be a great way to celebrate a birthday.

How old are you today? Is today your birthday?

You're three. Or another special occasion.

We came to watch Toy Story, her very first movie, and it was a blast. Her very first movie theater experience, and they gave her a little certificate to prove it.

No matter the reason, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Lost Cleanest is making this summer one for families to enjoy all season long.

For over 10 years, we have offered Kids Camp, which is an affordable way to come see a new movie every week. And it's a really cool way to come out and see classics or maybe movies that were out recently that you might have missed.

You had to ruin it. You're not even listening to me. I'm always listening. See?

We also have a lot of great new releases this summer, so it's just a great summer to be a kid right now. You've got Toy Story 5, Minions and Monsters, Moana is coming up soon, as well as Paw Patrol the Dino Movie. You could be here every week and see something different, which is really exciting.

To make the movie-going experience even more of an adventure, every Kids Camp guest receives a special movie passport. This is the Kids Camp passport. Parents will just bring their kid to any movie during the summer, and then they'll write down the title and the date. You'll get a sticker, stick it on, and after five movies, you'll earn a cookie. And children can enjoy a meal from Alamo's newly expanded Kids Menu, featuring more options for young moviegoers.

Cheese pizza, chicken bites, cheeseburgers but then we also have some unique offerings like mac and cheese with goldfish crackers and we do special items for the movies like right now for Minions and Monsters we have a shake it's chocolate and of course banana with some sprinkles.

From specialty kids' meals and discounted movie tickets to kid-friendly activities and must-see films, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Lost Cleanest has everything families need to make every outing memorable.

They love Toy Story. They were Woody and Buzz for Halloween last year, and we came for Baby Day, so we could... all come see it together.

I saw they have like a kid-friendly showing, a baby-friendly specifically, so I knew her first movie, even if she talked a little bit or anything like that, she'd have a good time.

Just really sweet to, you know, see their first movie together and love it and laugh out loud.

That's the best part. Just something that her and I can do together and laugh and just get to spend time together and do something fun.

It's a chance for families to share the magic of movies on the big screen with the community. Another great way to beat the heat while keeping the kids entertained this summer is a visit to one of our Irving Public Libraries. Throughout the season, the library hosts free, exciting, and interactive performances for families to enjoy. One of the latest acts to delight young audiences is Sam the Magic Man, who brings plenty of surprises and mesmerizing tricks to the South Irving Library.

Let's get started. You're going to see all kinds of things. You're going to see things appear and disappear, and it's all going to happen right before your very eyes.

It was great. It was a lot of fun. I think the kids really liked it.

Amy, can I see my magic wand, please? All right, Amy, I'll take the magic wand. I'm going to wave the magic.

We have Sam the Magic Man, who's going to perform an amazing magic trick for our community today.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, wow. All right, Henry, I'm gonna throw you in here, and you're gonna find your card. Are you ready?

It's a fast-paced, high-energy show for kids. I try to make it fun for the adults, too. There's got some card tricks. I put a balloon on my head, and there might be an animal that comes out. Oh, here he comes.

Oh my goodness! There he goes! It scared me. I thought it was a real snake.

Do you want to pet him? He's really cute. Do you want to pet him?

Oh no, Rocky!

Oh my goodness! He's perfectly fine. Magic really elevates people's mood. They don't see it often, but they hear about it a lot. They see it on television, and so when someone sees it in person, it creates quite a memorable experience.

Just seeing their reactions to our programs, it's one of my favorite parts of the job.

It's babies!

Oh my goodness.

I love it. I love it like the actual library gets all these activities for the kids.

I think it's a really great opportunity to let the kids find books and experience and the interaction with the other kids.

This is my magic coloring book. It brings community together, gets the kids off the screen, gets the parents off the screen. Just get out. That's what we need to do.

I think it just gets them kind of aware of what we have here. The library is amazing. You have programs, you have activities here for all ages.

Wave the wand over the bag just like this. Oh my goodness. All right.

Keep the cool entertainment going with a visit to the Irving Archives and Museum, where you can explore a variety of captivating exhibits. Currently, three sports exhibits are on display at the museum, and one of them is Tom Landry, A Life in Football, featuring photographs that showcase Landry's journey from his early years to his lasting impact as one of football's most influential figures. Robert Sheik has the story.

An Irving legend with a feather in his cap.

The hat, of course.

Tom Landry, a life in football, takes you on a journey from his playing days at the University of Texas through his memorable seasons patrolling the sidelines at Texas Stadium.

We thought it would be fun to look at Tom Landry through a lens of as a human and as kind of his role in football, not just as the coach.

That's just a snapshot of the summer sports exhibits on display at the Irving Archives and Museum. Peer into the perfect shot, a gallery of photos from professional sports photographer Walter Yost, featuring stars so bright we know them by just one name. Tiger, Bo, Ali, at equally historic venues like Wrigley Field and even the Twin Towers.

They capture so much emotion. It's triumph, it's defeat, it's reflection, it's teamwork. Even if you're not a sports person, you can recognize human emotion in these images.

In an era when the magazine cover meant everything, nobody did it better than Walter Yost. More than 300 covers of Sports Illustrated spanning some 60 years, and many of those photos are on display here.

He was coming of age just when photography was also starting to be seen as an art, not just a documentary profession, and I think he really is truly an artist.

Finally, there's one more flashback in time on display right now. The home team, Spirit and Sports in Irving, with a focus right here in our hometown.

Being part of sport, but also just being part of a hometown and having spirit for our community.

The spirit of sport in three special museum exhibits right here in Irving. Robert Sheik for Irving Spotlight.

From exploring the legacy of a football legend to stepping into a pivotal moment in American history, the newest main stage production, Inherit the Win, brings audiences back to a famous courtroom battle that challenged beliefs, sparked debates, and defended the power of free thought.

There were questions, Rach. I was only asking questions. You get them on the stand, you repeat those things, bring your link and sound like answers, and they'll crucify you.

Henry Dorman comes in, he's a lawyer from Chicago, and he's working, in the real case, he's working at the ACLU, but he's coming in to represent the teacher who's being accused of teaching evolution in high school.

Is it true? Is Bert wicked?

Bert Case is a good man.

Maybe even a great one.

And it takes strength for a woman to love such a man.

On the surface, it's pretty much a simple story about the Scopes Monkey Trial back in 1925, which was basically creationism versus evolution. And you had parties on both sides arguing which is correct in the context of what should we be teaching in our schools. So that's what happens in the play, but I think the play is about more than that.

People right now are telling other people how to think. People are telling other people what to believe. And that's wrong. And that's what this play is about, is the right to think, the right to believe.

I had the book in my hand, Hunter's Civic Biology. I opened it up and read my sophomore science class chapter 17, Darwin's Origin of Species. All it says is that man wasn't just stuck here like some geranium in a flower pot. That living comes from a long miracle. It didn't just happen in seven days.

There's a law against it.

I know that.

I like the story because it stands up for, in this play, it stands up for the underdog, right? It's fighting for the little guy. And theater to me has to reflect the community, reflect civilization as it is today.

What are you, an evolutionist?

If one message comes through, it's respect. Show respect to everyone and their thoughts.

I enjoy being able to perform for other people and have them hopefully enjoy it and get some kind of benefit out of coming to see it.

I think the public can really get a lot by coming out to theater. I think more people need to have that experience.

We're still main stage in Irving, Texas, in the beautiful Irving Arts Center, right? And if we can get one person to come to one of our shows that's never been to a theater, have an experience, and then go buy a ticket somewhere else because they liked what we did, that's keeping theater alive.

Why is it, my old friend, that you have moved so far away from me? All motion is relative.

Perhaps it is you who moved away by standing still.

In addition to gripping performances, there are several fun things to do around the city. Levi Gomez, our man about town, shares his suggestions.

Based on the Griffin courtroom drama that challenged the legality of teaching evolution in a Tennessee classroom, Inherit the Wind is presented by Mainstage Irving Las Colinas. Multiple performances in the Dupree Theatre will run from July 24th through August 8th. See a live animal adventure with the creature teacher. This interactive program introduces families to exotic animals while exploring habitats and fun animal facts. Walk on the wild side at 2.30 p.m. on July 28th here at the West Irving Library. He's a regular on NPR's weekly news quiz, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Alonzo Bowden brings his stand-up routine to Irving for four shows at the Punchline at Toyota Music Factory. Choose Thursday, July 30th, Friday the 31st, or one of the two options on Saturday, August 1st. Paint a small flower pot in a craftastic lesson. It's the perfect size for a succulent or other small plant. The creativity gets underway at 2 p.m. on July 31st here at West Irving Library. With a career spanning more than 30 years, Mexican singer Jorge Medina returns to the U.S. stage with his Legendario Tour. The unique spectacle celebrates his musical legacy at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, one night only on August 8th at 8 p.m. Artwork from the Irving Art Center's Teen Volunteers is featured in the Courtyard Gallery. Stop by any afternoon from Tuesday through Saturday to see the collection through September 12th.

And that wraps up this episode of Irving Spotlight. Join us next time as we discover more fun ways for the community to enjoy what Irving has to offer this summer. And we see what colorful quilts and creations are on display at this year's Original Sewing and Quilt Expo. As always, tell us stories you'd like to see on the show. You can email us at ictn at irvingtx.gov or connect with us on social media. So subscribe to our YouTube channel, like us on Facebook, and follow us on X and Instagram. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks so much for tuning in and have a great evening. For Irving Spotlight, I'm Susan Stevens.

talking to the town. We're all residents here and we just want to know what are we doing and is the city council doing the right thing or the city leaders doing the right thing?

A town hall conversation on the future of public transportation and data centers in Irving. Supplies for success. It does feel like we're being taken care of. Mountains of backpacks with all the school essentials going to the Irving kids who need them most before they head back to classes. Those stories, plus a new tactical training center preparing Irving police to protect the public, now on City Source. Hundreds of volunteers stuffed thousands of backpacks to make sure Irving kids have the school head start they need. Hello, and welcome to City Source. I'm Nick Lawton. That story's still ahead, but we begin with a town hall meeting where residents got an update on the new Irving Connector public transportation and heard how the city is tackling one of the biggest topics of today, data centers. More than 100 Irving residents came to a town hall hosted by council members David Pfaff and John Block. On the agenda, an update on the new transit service Irving Connector.

What does transportation look like? Is it better? Is it worse? We'll give you feedback. But also you'll get to see the people behind the scenes on that as well.

As presented at the town hall, more than 1,800 riders have taken Irving Connector routes 225 and 255 since it launched in June. And 135 people have hopped onto the loop at Las Colinas in the three weeks it's been operating.

The Irving Connector has been absolutely great. It's helped people that are disabled like me and other people where I live.

The town hall also addressed the City of Irving's approach to a hot-button topic today, data centers.

The data centers, I am totally against data centers. I just think it's not safe for the city.

Everyone is using data today, and we do need it. We just need it to be done in a safe way.

City leaders laid out to residents the requirements Irving has on zoning, land use, noise and water use for the data centers already in town.

You know, we have four data centers approved in the city, two of them in operation. So they've been around for a long time.

When people see, especially data centers in their community, the things that they're asking for their city to do to protect them, we've already done here.

City leaders also assured that the biggest data centers, those more than 10,000 square feet, can't come to the city.

At the hyperscale centers, we don't have that amount of land in Irving. So that really can't happen here. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be concerned. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't have created our standards because we care about our community.

It was a town hall conversation that left many with the hope for a stable future for Irving, city leaders and residents alike.

They're our boss. We're the link between them and the city. So it's very important for that lane of communication to stay open.

And you can see the City of Irving's data center regulations for yourself by logging on to irvingtx.gov slash planning and irvingtx.gov slash data dash centers. City leaders say they'll keep studying the Irving Connector to see if they can add more ways to streamline transportation, including better connections between Irving Connector vans and DART. And speaking of the Irving Connector, we got another look at all the places you can go on the loop at Las Colinas. My colleagues Robert Sheik and Susan Stevens join me on the loop.

I'm Susan Stevens. On Urban Spotlight, we regularly highlight all that's available at the Toyota Music Factory. The Loop at Las Clinas makes it super easy to see a movie, catch a concert, or grab a treat. The vans are great for visitors staying at one of the hotels in the area to experience all you can do and see in the Urban Center.

We're here in one of my favorite parts of Irving, and now there's a new easy way to get here. It's the Irving Connector Loop at Las Colinas. It takes you all around the urban center area. So you can come down here if you want to come down to Water Street, maybe check out the awesome Mustangs at Las Colinas over at Williams Square, and then come back over here and maybe go grab lunch, dinner, whatever it is. I'm going to go grab some lunch right now and then hop back on the Irving Connector Loop at Las Colinas to get where I need to go.

I'm Nick Lawton with CitySource. Another great thing you can do on the loop at Las Colinas is connect with a DART train. There are two stops along the loop where you can make the connection. I'm at Las Colinas station right now, which is an easy transfer to the Orange Line to get to DFW Airport or go into Dallas. And another great thing about this loop at Las Colinas stop, when you step off, you are right on the Lake Carolyn Promenade.

It's one of the reasons they call it the Irving Connector.

And you can catch up on all the recent stories we've done on the Irving Connector on our playlist at youtube.com slash the city of Irving. Well, keeping their edge when it comes to public safety, that's what Irving police are aiming for now that their new tactical training center is operational. Robert Sheik takes us inside.

urban police officers, including Chief Derek Miller, are getting in some morning target practice. This is inside the new Police Tactical Training Center, a facility designed to allow officers to train for a number of different scenarios.

This facility is more than just a gun range. This facility is a tactical training center. The threats that police officers are seeing in our country today are unlike any other. And so being able to have flexibility in our training, dynamics in our training is paramount. And so a facility like this allows us to do those things.

We document every shot we take. City leaders toured the new facility and watched as officers demonstrated some of their training exercises here.

It's unbelievable the amount of training that they go through and the skill level they already have.

And the only way you make that happen is train, train and train.

As police training continues to evolve, This facility allows Irving PD to stay at the cutting edge of modern tactics, part of the city's commitment to public safety.

We want to make sure that we're making great investments into our public safety facilities. Just last week, we opened our brand new fire station eight. This week, we're now opening up our brand new tactical training facility. It really shows how important it is to continue to invest in our public safety.

An investment to protect and serve Irving with highly trained officers. Robert Sheik for CitySource.

Construction is underway on the new Mustang Park multi-generational facility. Our cameras were there as the contractor installed some precast slabs. Next up, the project's going vertical. Structural steel installation is expected to take four to six weeks, finishing in mid-September. That's when there will be a beam signing ceremony. We'll, of course, keep you up to date on all the latest progress. Every single piece of this backpack mountain went toward making sure no Irving child was left behind going back to school. The Irving Schools Foundation's annual Supplies for Success Drive is a day hundreds of volunteers helped prepare for. getting the perfect backpack for the new school year. That's an experience these volunteers for the Irving Schools Foundation want to make sure every kid gets. They'll climb a mountain of donated backpacks to do it. even though there's a few cave-ins.

School is hard as it is, so not even having the basic things that you need to get by, I mean, that's tough. So if we can do anything to help out, we're always happy to do it.

At this Supplies for Success drive, hundreds of volunteers work to give out thousands of backpacks. ISF leaders say the need in the community is great.

Unfortunately, I've seen it grow so much. When I first started, I think we probably gave out about 1,000 backpacks, and we thought that was so much, and we just were so overwhelmed by it, and now we're almost at 7,000.

So volunteers work for days to stuff every backpack with donated school essentials.

A glue stick, some headphones. They also have an eraser, colored pencils, crayons, markers, everything they need to get started for the school year.

And they work fast.

On the dot max, yeah.

Less than an hour.

Less than an hour, yeah.

And all those days of work lead up to moments like these.

He's going to pre-K. It does feel like we're, you know, being taken care of as a community, coming together and doing this and seeing all the people here, especially the volunteers. It feels really good.

And thanks to generous donations and tireless volunteers, family after family left the Supplies for Success drive with a head start for their kids.

Our volunteers are pumped up. They serve. They are true leaders with heart because that's what we're here for. We're here to serve.

Just hope everybody has a great school year.

And now we get to one of the best segments of City Source Pet of the Week right here. We are at Irving Animal Care Campus. Joining with me now is Egan Dobson, Outreach Coordinator with this latest Pet of the Week. And he is ready. He's got all this energy. This is Bull Weevil.

So Bull Weevil, he is the life of the party, if you couldn't already tell. He's quite the lover. He's about a year old. He's super dog friendly. We're pretty sure he's also potty trained, crate trained, and he is ready to find his forever home.

Oh, absolutely. And this guy has so much love in his heart. He's not even looking at the camera. He's looking right at the both of us. He wants to give us all the love. What can you tell us about what would be the ideal family for Bo Weevil?

So somebody who might like to be a little active, go on a walk every once in a while. Bo Weevil does love his balls. He's a catch and retrieve kind of guy. So somebody who wouldn't mind spending some quality time outside.

Another way that you can get a lot of exercise out of dogs like this. Would Bo' Weevil do well around kids, you think?

I think so. Maybe some older kids. Maybe not too young because he is very fun, very energetic. Oh, yeah. So maybe somebody, you know, in their teens. But he is a very good boy and would be a good first-time dog as well.

How has he reacted around other dogs and maybe cats?

So cats, we're right next to a bunch of cats right now. He could care less, and he loves to play with his doggy friends.

That's absolutely perfect. If you want to get a chance to adopt a bull weevil right now and have all this loving for yourself, how would people go about doing that?

So they can come during our business hours. We're open most Tuesdays through Saturdays at the Irving Animal Care Campus here in Irving, Texas. And they can stop on in, ask to meet this goofy guy, and we can kind of set a meet and greet up and start the adoption process.

And for people seeing this segment right now who may not have the ability to adopt Will Weevil here, but they still want to make a difference in the animals in these shelters, how else can they help?

So we're always looking for more fosters. We're looking for more volunteers. Even donating off our Amazon wish list and things like that always help the pets here at the shelter.

And we've got a big event coming up here, Clear the Shelters, and you guys are actually running an adoption special all August, aren't you?

We are. So starting August 1st all the way until August 29th, everybody here at the Animal Care Campus is $25 to adopt. On the 29th is our Clear the Shelter day, where all adoption fees are waived, so everybody will be free to go home.

Perfect. Perfect. Oh, and as you can see, Bull Weevil wants you to get out here and help out and he's ready for a good home. And so building up to the Clear the Shelter event and those adoption specials that you're running, what else can you tell us about what's happening?

So we do have another big event called the Mega Adoption Event. It's hosted by the Humane Society of North Texas and Petco Love. It will be in Fort Worth on the 15th and 16th of August. It is free to attend. There's going to be 20 plus North Texas rescues and animal shelters all under one roof with 1,200 available animals ready to be adopted.

That's wonderful. Egan, thank you so much for joining us. And of course, again, this is Bull Weevil. He's ready for his forever home. So if you see him right here and you want to take him home, you can come on down here to the Irving Animal Care Campus and ask for Bull Weevil specifically. And you can check out the website on your screen right now to see even more adorable, adoptable animals. City leaders and a longtime local business coming together for a good cause. On the next City Source, the community effort to help Irving kids look their best before they head back to school. And celebrating those in our community making a lasting impact. We'll take you to the latest Keep Irving Beautiful Awards. Those stories and more next time on City Source. Well, here's how you can connect with us. You can email us at ICTN at IrvingTX.gov. Our YouTube channel is YouTube.com slash the City of Irving. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss anything. And we always like it when you leave us positive comments. Let us know you are watching. And you can look for updates on events and initiatives across the major social media platforms at the City of Irving. That does it for this edition of City Source. Thanks for watching. Stay cool out there, and we'll see you back here next time.

Family fun. Discover how the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Las Clinas is entertaining kids and their parents with movies and more this summer.

Just get to spend time together and do something fun.

Magical Moments. The South Irving Library provides an afternoon of wonder and awe as Sam the Magic Man entertains the community with interactive tricks and illusions.

I have some card tricks. I put a balloon on my head and there might be an animal that comes out.

Football icon. Experience a special exhibit at the Irving Archives and Museum, highlighting the life and success of former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry.

Even if you're not a sports person, you can recognize human emotion in these images. And classic drama.

We preview the newest main stage production, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's Inherit the Wind.

If one message comes through, it's respect. Show respect to everyone and their thoughts.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Irving Spotlight. I'm Susan Stevens. We begin tonight with a summer series that's turning a trip to the movies into a family event. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Lost Cleanest offers a kids camp, family movie parties, discounted tickets, and more ways for parents and their loved ones to have unforgettable cinematic fun all season long. A trip to the movies can be a great way to celebrate a birthday.

How old are you today? Is today your birthday?

You're three. Or another special occasion.

We came to watch Toy Story, her very first movie, and it was a blast. Her very first movie theater experience, and they gave her a little certificate to prove it.

No matter the reason, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Lost Cleanest is making this summer one for families to enjoy all season long.

For over 10 years, we have offered Kids Camp, which is an affordable way to come see a new movie every week. And it's a really cool way to come out and see classics or maybe movies that were out recently that you might have missed.

You had to ruin it. You're not even listening to me. I'm always listening. See?

We also have a lot of great new releases this summer, so it's just a great summer to be a kid right now. You've got Toy Story 5, Minions and Monsters, Moana is coming up soon, as well as Paw Patrol the Dino Movie. You could be here every week and see something different, which is really exciting.

To make the movie-going experience even more of an adventure, every Kids Camp guest receives a special movie passport. This is the Kids Camp passport. Parents will just bring their kid to any movie during the summer, and then they'll write down the title and the date. You'll get a sticker, stick it on, and after five movies, you'll earn a cookie. And children can enjoy a meal from Alamo's newly expanded Kids Menu, featuring more options for young moviegoers.

Cheese pizza, chicken bites, cheeseburgers. But then we also have some unique offerings like mac and cheese with goldfish crackers. And we do special items for the movies, like right now for Minions and Monsters, we have a shake. It's chocolate and of course banana with some sprinkles.

From specialty kids meals and discounted movie tickets to kid-friendly activities and must-see films, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Lost Cleanest has everything families need to make every outing memorable.

They love Toy Story. They were Woody and Buzz for Halloween last year, and we came for Baby Day, so we could... all come see it together.

I saw they have like a kid-friendly showing, a baby-friendly specifically, so I knew her first movie, even if she talked a little bit or anything like that, she'd have a good time.

Just really sweet to, you know, see their first movie together and love it and laugh out loud.

That's the best part. Just something that her and I can do together and laugh and just get to spend time together and do something fun.

It's a chance for families to share the magic of movies on the big screen with the community. Another great way to beat the heat while keeping the kids entertained this summer is a visit to one of our Irving Public Libraries. Throughout the season, the library hosts free, exciting, and interactive performances for families to enjoy. One of the latest acts to delight young audiences is Sam the Magic Man, who brings plenty of surprises and mesmerizing tricks to the South Irving Library.

Let's get started. You're going to see all kinds of things. You're going to see things appear and disappear, and it's all going to happen right before your very eyes.

It was great. It was a lot of fun. I think the kids really liked it.

Amy, can I see my magic wand, please? All right, Amy, I'll take the magic wand. I'm going to wave the magic.

We have Sam, the magic man, who's going to perform an amazing magic trick for our community today.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. All right, Henry, I'm going to throw you in here, and you're going to find your card. Are you ready?

It's a fast-paced, high-energy show for kids. I try to make it fun for the adults, too. There's some card tricks. I put a balloon on my head, and there might be an animal that comes out. Oh, here he comes.

Oh, my goodness! There he goes! It scared me. I thought it was a real snake.

Do you want to pet him? He's really cute. Do you want to pet him?

Oh no, Rocky!

Oh my goodness! He's perfectly fine. Magic really elevates people's mood. They don't see it often, but they hear about it a lot. They see it on television, and so when someone sees it in person, it creates quite a memorable experience.

Just seeing their reactions to our programs, it's one of my favorite parts of the job.

It's babies!

Oh my goodness.

I love it. I love it like the actual library gets all these activities for the kids.

I think it's a really great opportunity to let the kids find books and experience and the interaction with the other kids.

This is my magic coloring book.

It brings community together, gets the kids off the screen, gets the parents off the screen. Just get out. That's what we need to do.

I think it just gets them kind of aware of what we have here. The library is amazing. You have programs, you have activities here for all ages.

Wave the wand over the bag just like this. Oh my goodness. All right.

Keep the cool entertainment going with a visit to the Irving Archives and Museum, where you can explore a variety of captivating exhibits. Currently, three sports exhibits are on display at the museum, and one of them is Tom Landry, A Life in Football, featuring photographs that showcase Landry's journey from his early years to his lasting impact as one of football's most influential figures. Robert Sheik has the story.

An Irving legend with a feather in his cap.

The hat, of course.

Tom Landry, a life in football, takes you on a journey from his playing days at the University of Texas through his memorable seasons patrolling the sidelines at Texas Stadium.

We thought it would be fun to look at Tom Landry through a lens of as a human and as kind of his role in football, not just as the coach.

That's just a snapshot of the summer sports exhibits on display at the Irving Archives and Museum. Peer into the perfect shot, a gallery of photos from professional sports photographer Walter Yost, featuring stars so bright we know them by just one name. Tiger, Bo, Ali, at equally historic venues like Wrigley Field and even the Twin Towers.

They capture so much emotion. It's triumph, it's defeat, it's reflection, it's teamwork. Even if you're not a sports person, you can recognize human emotion in these images.

In an era when the magazine cover meant everything, nobody did it better than Walter Yost. More than 300 covers of Sports Illustrated spanning some 60 years, and many of those photos are on display here.

He was coming of age just when photography was also starting to be seen as an art, not just a documentary profession. And I think he really is truly an artist.

Finally, there's one more flashback in time on display right now. The home team, Spirit and Sports in Irving, with a focus right here in our hometown.

Being part of sport, but also just being part of a hometown and having spirit for our community.

The spirit of sport in three special museum exhibits right here in Irving. Robert Sheik for Irving Spotlight.

From exploring the legacy of a football legend to stepping into a pivotal moment in American history, the newest main stage production, Inherit the Win, brings audiences back to a famous courtroom battle that challenged beliefs, sparked debates, and defended the power of free thought.

There were questions, Rach. I was only asking questions. You get up on the stand, you repeat those things, bring your Lincoln sound like answers, and they'll crucify you.

Henry Drummond comes in, he's a lawyer from Chicago, and he's working, in the real case, he's working at the ACLU, but he's coming in to represent the teacher who's being accused of teaching evolution in high school.

Is it true? Is Burt wicked? Burt Gates is a good man. Maybe even a great man.

And it takes strength for a woman to love such a man.

On the surface, it's pretty much a simple story about the Scopes Monkey Trial back in 1925, which was basically creationism versus evolution. And you had parties on both sides arguing which is correct in the context of what should we be teaching in our schools. So that's what happens in the play, but I think the play is about more than that.

People right now are telling other people how to think. People are telling other people what to believe. And that's wrong. And that's what this play is about, is the right to think, the right to believe.

I had the book in my hand, Hunter's Civic Biology. I opened it up and read my sophomore science class, chapter 17, Darwin, the Origin of Species. All it says is that man wasn't just stuck here like some geranium in a flower pot. That living comes from a long miracle. It didn't just happen in seven days.

There's a law against it.

I know that.

I like the story because It stands up for, in this play it stands up for the underdog, right? It's fighting for the little guy. And theater to me has to reflect the community, reflect civilization as it is today.

What are you, an evolutionist?

If one message comes through, it's respect. Show respect to everyone and their thoughts.

I enjoy being able to perform for other people and have them hopefully enjoy it and get some kind of benefit out of coming to see it.

I think the public can really get a lot by coming out to theater. I think more people need to have that experience.

We're still main stage in Irving, Texas, in the beautiful Irving Arts Center, right? And if we can get one person to come to one of our shows that's never been to a theater, have an experience, and then go buy a ticket somewhere else because they liked what we did, that's keeping theater alive.

Why is it, my old friend, that you have moved so far away from me? All motion is relative.

Perhaps it is you who moved away by standing still.

In addition to gripping performances, there are several fun things to do around the city. Levi Gomez, our man about town, shares his suggestions.

Based on the Griffin courtroom drama that challenged the legality of teaching evolution in a Tennessee classroom, Inherit the Wind is presented by main stage Irving Las Colinas. Multiple performances in the Dupree Theater will run from July 24th through August 8th. See a live animal adventure with the creature teacher. This interactive program introduces families to exotic animals while exploring habitats and fun animal facts. Walk on the wild side at 2.30 p.m. on July 28th here at the West Irving Library. He's a regular on NPR's weekly news quiz, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Alonzo Bowden brings his stand-up routine to Irving for four shows at the Punchline at Toyota Music Factory. Choose Thursday, July 30th, Friday the 31st, or one of the two options on Saturday, August 1st. Paint a small flower pot in a craftastic lesson. It's the perfect size for a succulent or other small plant. The creativity gets underway at 2 p.m. on July 31st here at West Irving Library. With a career spanning more than 30 years, Mexican singer Jorge Medina returns to the U.S. stage with his Legendario Tour. The unique spectacle celebrates his musical legacy at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, one night only on August 8th at 8 p.m. Artwork from the Irving Art Center's Teen Volunteers is featured in the Courtyard Gallery. Stop by any afternoon from Tuesday through Saturday to see the collection through September 12th.

And that wraps up this episode of Irving Spotlight. Join us next time as we discover more fun ways for the community to enjoy what Irving has to offer this summer. And we see what colorful quilts and creations are on display at this year's Original Sewing and Quilt Expo. As always, tell us stories you'd like to see on the show. You can email us at ictn at irvingtx.gov or connect with us on social media. So subscribe to our YouTube channel, like us on Facebook, and follow us on X and Instagram. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks so much for tuning in and have a great evening. For Irving Spotlight, I'm Susan Stevens.

talking to the town. We're all residents here and we just want to know what are we doing and is the city council doing the right thing or the city leaders doing the right thing?

A town hall conversation on the future of public transportation and data centers in Irving. Supplies for success. It does feel like we're being taken care of. Mountains of backpacks with all the school essentials going to the Irving kids who need them most before they head back to classes. Those stories plus a new tactical training center preparing Irving police to protect the public now on City Source. Hundreds of volunteers stuffed thousands of backpacks to make sure Irving kids have the school head start they need. Hello, and welcome to CitySource. I'm Nick Lawton. That story's still ahead, but we begin with a town hall meeting where residents got an update on the new Irving Connector public transportation and heard how the city is tackling one of the biggest topics of today, data centers. More than 100 Irving residents came to a town hall hosted by council members David Pfaff and John Block. On the agenda, an update on the new transit service Irving Connector.

What does transportation look like? Is it better? Is it worse? We'll give you feedback. But also you'll get to see the people behind the scenes on that as well.

As presented at the town hall, more than 1,800 riders have taken Irving Connector routes 225 and 255 since it launched in June. And 135 people have hopped onto the loop at Las Colinas in the three weeks it's been operating.

The Irving Connector has been absolutely great. It's helped people that are disabled like me and other people where I live.

The town hall also addressed the City of Irving's approach to a hot-button topic today, data centers.

The data centers, I am totally against data centers. I just think it's not safe for the city.

Everyone is using data today, and we do need it. We just need it to be done in a safe way.

City leaders laid out to residents the requirements Irving has on zoning, land use, noise and water use for the data centers already in town.

You know, we have four data centers approved in the city, two of them in operation. So they've been around for a long time.

When people see, especially data centers in their community, the things that they're asking for their city to do to protect them, we've already done here.

City leaders also assured that the biggest data centers, those more than 10,000 square feet, can't come to the city.

At the hyperscale centers, we don't have that amount of land in Irving. So that really can't happen here. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be concerned. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't have concerns. created our standards because we care about our community.

It was a town hall conversation that left many with the hope for a stable future for Irving, city leaders and residents alike.

They're our boss. We're the link between them and the city. So it's very important for that lane of communication to stay open.

And you can see the city of Irving's data center regulations for yourself by logging on to IrvingTX.gov slash planning and IrvingTX.gov slash data dash centers. City leaders say they'll keep studying the Irving Connector to see if they can add more ways to streamline transportation, including better connections between Irving Connector vans and DART. And speaking of the Irving Connector, we got another look at all the places you can go on the loop at Las Colinas. My colleagues Robert Sheik and Susan Stevens join me on the loop.

I'm Susan Stevens. On Urban Spotlight, we regularly highlight all that's available at the Toyota Music Factory. The Loop at Las Clinas makes it super easy to see a movie, catch a concert, or grab a treat. The vans are great for visitors staying at one of the hotels in the area to experience all you can do and see in the Urban Center.

We're here in one of my favorite parts of Irving, and now there's a new easy way to get here. It's the Irving Connector Loop at Las Colinas. It takes you all around the urban center area. So you can come down here if you want to come down to Water Street, maybe check out the awesome Mustangs at Las Colinas over at Williams Square, and then come back over here and maybe go grab lunch, dinner, whatever it is. I'm going to go grab some lunch right now and then hop back on the Irving Connector Loop at Las Colinas to get where I need to go.

I'm Nick Lawton with CitySource. Another great thing you can do on the loop at Las Colinas is connect with a DART train. There are two stops along the loop where you can make the connection. I'm at Las Colinas station right now, which is an easy transfer to the Orange Line to get to DFW Airport or go into Dallas. And another great thing about this loop at Las Colinas stop, when you step off, you are right on the Lake Carolyn Promenade.

It's one of the reasons they call it the Irving Connector.

And you can catch up on all the recent stories we've done on the Irving Connector on our playlist at youtube.com slash the city of Irving. Well, keeping their edge when it comes to public safety, that's what Irving police are aiming for now that their new tactical training center is operational. Robert Sheik takes us inside.

Urban police officers, including Chief Derek Miller, are getting in some morning target practice. This is inside the new Police Tactical Training Center, a facility designed to allow officers to train for a number of different scenarios.

This facility is more than just a gun range. This facility is a tactical training center. The threats that police officers are seeing in our country today are unlike any other. And so being able to have flexibility in our training, dynamics in our training is paramount. And so a facility like this allows us to do those things.

We document every shot we take. City leaders toured the new facility and watched as officers demonstrated some of their training exercises here.

It's unbelievable the amount of training that they go through and the skill level they already have.

And the only way you make that happen is train, train and train.

As police training continues to evolve... This facility allows Irving PD to stay at the cutting edge of modern tactics, part of the city's commitment to public safety.

We want to make sure that we're making great investments into our public safety facilities. Just last week, we opened our brand new fire station eight. This week, we're now opening up our brand new tactical training facility. It really shows how important it is to continue to invest in our public safety.

An investment to protect and serve Irving with highly trained officers. Robert Sheik for CitySource.

Construction is underway on the new Mustang Park multi-generational facility. Our cameras were there as the contractor installed some precast slabs. Next up, the project's going vertical. Structural steel installation is expected to take four to six weeks, finishing in mid-September. That's when there will be a beam signing ceremony. We'll, of course, keep you up to date on all the latest progress. Every single piece of this backpack mountain went toward making sure no Irving child was left behind going back to school. The Irving Schools Foundation's annual Supplies for Success Drive is a day hundreds of volunteers helped prepare for. getting the perfect backpack for the new school year. That's an experience these volunteers for the Irving Schools Foundation want to make sure every kid gets. They'll climb a mountain of donated backpacks to do it. even though there's a few cave-ins.

School is hard as it is, so not even having the basic, you know, things that you need to get by, I mean, that's tough. So if we can do anything to help out, we're always happy to do it.

At this Supplies for Success drive, hundreds of volunteers work to give out thousands of backpacks. ISF leaders say the need in the community is great.

Unfortunately, I've seen it grow so much. When I first started, I think we probably gave out about 1,000 backpacks, and we thought that was so much, and we just were so overwhelmed by it, and now we're almost at 7,000.

So volunteers work for days to stuff every backpack with donated school essentials.

A glue stick, some headphones. They also have an eraser, colored pencils, crayons, markers, everything they need to get started for the school year.

And they work fast.

100 backpacks, yeah.

Less than an hour.

Less than an hour, yes.

And all those days of work

lead up to moments like these he's going to pre-k it does feel like we're you know being taken care of as a community coming together and doing this and seeing all the people here especially the volunteers it feels really good and thanks to generous donations and tireless volunteers family after family left the supplies for success drive with a head start for their kids

Our volunteers are pumped up. They serve. They are true leaders with heart because that's what we're here for. We're here to serve.

I just hope everybody has a great school year.

And now we get to one of the best segments of City Source Pet of the Week right here. We are at Irving Animal Care Campus. Joining with me now is Egan Dobson, Outreach Coordinator with this latest Pet of the Week. And he is ready. He's got all this energy. This is Bull Weevil.

So Bull Weevil, he is the life of the party, if you couldn't already tell. He's quite the lover. He's about a year old. He's super dog friendly. We're pretty sure he's also potty trained, crate trained, and he is ready to find his forever home.

Oh, absolutely. And this guy has so much love in his heart. He's not even looking at the camera. He's looking right at the both of us. He wants to give us all the love. What can you tell us about what would be the ideal family for Bo Weevil?

So somebody who might like to be a little active, go on a walk every once in a while. Bo Weevil does love his balls. He's a catch and retrieve kind of guy. So somebody who wouldn't mind spending some quality time outside.

Another way that you can get a lot of exercise out of dogs like this. Would Bowieville do well around kids, you think?

I think so. Maybe some older kids. Maybe not too young because he is very fun, very energetic. Oh, yeah. So maybe somebody, you know, in their teens. But he is a very good boy and would be a good first-time dog as well.

How has he reacted around other dogs and maybe cats?

So cats, we're right next to a bunch of cats right now. He could care less, and he loves to play with his doggy friends.

That's absolutely perfect. If you want to get a chance to adopt Bro Weevil right now and have all this loving for yourself, how would people go about doing that?

So they can come during our business hours. We're open most Tuesdays through Saturdays at the Irving Animal Care Campus here in Irving, Texas. And they can stop on in, ask to meet this goofy guy, and we can kind of set a meet and greet up and start the adoption process.

And for people seeing this segment right now who may not have the ability to adopt Will Weevil here, but they still want to make a difference in the animals in these shelters, how else can they help?

So we're always looking for more fosters. We're looking for more volunteers. Even donating off our Amazon wish list and things like that always help the pets here at the shelter.

And we've got a big event coming up here, Clear the Shelters, and you guys are actually running an adoption special all August, aren't you?

We are. So starting August 1st all the way until August 29th, everybody here at the Animal Care Campus is $25 to adopt. On the 29th is our Clear the Shelter day, where all adoption fees are waived, so everybody will be free to go home.

Perfect. Perfect. And as you can see, Bull Weevil wants you to get out here and help out and he's ready for a good home. And so building up to the Clear the Shelter event and those adoption specials that you're running, what else can you tell us about what's happening here?

So we do have another big event called the Mega Adoption Event. It's hosted by the Humane Society of North Texas and Petco Love. It will be in Fort Worth on the 15th and 16th of August. It is free to attend. There's going to be 20 plus North Texas rescues and animal shelters all under one roof with 1,200 available animals ready to be adopted.

That's wonderful. Egan, thank you so much for joining us. And of course, again, this is Bull Weevil. He's ready for his forever home. So if you see him right here and you want to take him home, you can come on down here to the Irving Animal Care Campus and ask for Bull Weevil specifically. And you can check out the website on your screen right now to see even more adorable, adoptable animals. City leaders and a longtime local business coming together for a good cause. On the next City Source, the community effort to help Irving kids look their best before they head back to school. And celebrating those in our community making a lasting impact. We'll take you to the latest Keep Irving Beautiful Awards. Those stories and more next time on City Source. Well, here's how you can connect with us. You can email us at ICTN at IrvingTX.gov. Our YouTube channel is YouTube.com slash the City of Irving. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss anything. And we always like it when you leave us positive comments. Let us know you are watching. And you can look for updates on events and initiatives across the major social media platforms at the City of Irving. That does it for this edition of City Source. Thanks for watching. Stay cool out there, and we'll see you back here next time.

Family fun. Discover how the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Lost Cleanest is entertaining kids and their parents with movies and more this summer.

Just get to spend time together and do something fun.

Magical Moments. The South Irving Library provides an afternoon of wonder and awe as Sam the Magic Man entertains the community with interactive tricks and illusions.

I've got some card tricks. I put a balloon on my head and there might be an animal that comes out.

football icon. Experience a special exhibit at the Irving Archives and Museum highlighting the life and success of former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry.

Even if you're not a sports person like you can recognize human emotion in these images. And classic drama.

We preview the newest main stage production Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's Inherit the Wind.

If one message comes through, it's respect. Show respect to everyone and their thoughts.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Irving Spotlight. I'm Susan Stevens. We begin tonight with a summer series that's turning a trip to the movies into a family event. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Lost Cleanest offers a kids camp, family movie parties, discounted tickets, and more ways for parents and their loved ones to have unforgettable cinematic fun all season long. A trip to the movies can be a great way to celebrate a birthday.

How old are you today? Is today your birthday?

You're three. Or another special occasion.

We came to watch Toy Story, her very first movie, and it was a blast. Her very first movie theater experience, and they gave her a little certificate to prove it.

No matter the reason, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Lost Cleanest is making this summer one for families to enjoy all season long.

For over 10 years, we have offered Kids Camp, which is an affordable way to come see a new movie every week. And it's a really cool way to come out and see classics or maybe movies that were out recently that you might have missed.

You had to ruin it. You're not even listening to me. I'm always listening. See?

We also have a lot of great new releases this summer. So it's just a great summer to be a kid right now. You've got Toy Story 5, Minions and Monsters, Moana is coming up soon, as well as Paw Patrol the Dino Movie. You could be here every week and see something different, which is really exciting.

To make the movie-going experience even more of an adventure, every Kids Camp guest receives a special movie passport. This is the Kids Camp passport. Parents will just bring their kid to any movie during the summer, and then they'll write down the title and the date. You'll get a sticker, stick it on, and after five movies, you'll earn a cookie. And children can enjoy a meal from Alamo's newly expanded Kids Menu, featuring more options for young moviegoers.

Cheese pizza, chicken bites, cheeseburgers. But then we also have some unique offerings like mac and cheese with goldfish crackers. And we do special items for the movies. Like right now, for Minions and Monsters, we have a shake. It's chocolate and of course banana with some sprinkles.

From specialty kids meals and discounted movie tickets to kid-friendly activities and must-see films, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Las Clinas has everything families need to make every outing memorable.

They love Toy Story. They were Woody and Buzz for Halloween last year, and we came for Baby Day, so we could... all come see it together.

I saw they have like a kid-friendly showing, a baby-friendly specifically, so I knew her first movie, even if she talked a little bit or anything like that, she'd have a good time.

Just really sweet to, you know, see their first movie together and love it and laugh out loud.

That's the best part. Just something that her and I can do together and laugh and just get to spend time together and do something fun.

It's a chance for families to share the magic of movies on the big screen with the community. Another great way to beat the heat while keeping the kids entertained this summer is a visit to one of our Irving Public Libraries. Throughout the season, the library hosts free, exciting, and interactive performances for families to enjoy. One of the latest acts to delight young audiences is Sam the Magic Man, who brings plenty of surprises and mesmerizing tricks to the South Irving Library.

Let's get started. You're going to see all kinds of things. You're going to see things appear and disappear, and it's all going to happen right before your very eyes.

It was great. It was a lot of fun. I think the kids really liked it.

Amy, can I see my magic wand, please? All right, Amy, I'll take the magic wand. I'm going to wave the magic.

We have Sam the Magic Man who's going to perform an amazing magic trick for our community today.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, wow. All right, Henry, I'm gonna throw you in here, and you're gonna find your card. Are you ready?

It's a fast-paced, high-energy show for kids. I try to make it fun for the adults, too. There's some card tricks. I put a balloon on my head, and there might be an animal that comes out. Oh, here he comes.

Oh my goodness! There he goes! It scared me. I thought it was a real snake.

Do you want to pet him? He's really cute. Do you want to pet him?

Oh no, Rocky!

Oh my goodness! He's perfectly fine. Magic really elevates people's mood. They don't see it often, but they hear about it a lot. They see it on television, and so when someone sees it in person, it creates quite a memorable experience.

Just seeing their reactions to our programs, it's one of my favorite parts of the job.