Last chance to register to vote in the upcoming election

Today, October 9, is the deadline to register to vote in the November election.  If you would like to check to see if you’re already registered, click here.

If you need to register to vote, here are the qualifications in Texas:

• Be a citizen of the United States
• Be a resident of the county in which the application for registration is made
• Be at least 17 years and 10 months old (you must be 18 to vote)
• Not be finally convicted of a felony, or if a convicted felon
• You must have fully discharged your punishment, including any incarceration, parole, supervision, period of probation, or be pardoned
• Have not been declared mentally incompetent by final judgment of a court of law

Need to Register? Register in person at your County Registrar’s Office. You can pick up an application from the County Registrar’s Office, some libraries or high schools and mail in your application however, it must be postmarked 30 days before November 6. Or visit an online website, complete and print the application then mail it to your County Registrars.

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Dallas Public Library to present Indie Author Day Oct. 13

The Dallas Public Library will welcome local indie authors to a day of workshops, presentations, panels and discussions dedicated to self-published authors. Indie Author Day will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13 on the third floor of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young St.

Indie Author Day provides writers an opportunity to navigate through the process of getting their book published, either through traditional means or self-publishing. In addition to hosting the event, staff will also unveil the Library’s new Local Authors Collection, also located on the third floor.

For more information and to register for Indie Author Day visit:

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Dallas earns a perfect score on HRC Municipal Equality Index

The City of Dallas is proud to share it earned a perfect score (100) on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s Municipal Equality Index (MEI). This year’s criteria is the most demanding since the report’s debut in 2012. According to the HRC, the MEI is the only national rating system of LGBTQ inclusion in municipal law, policy, and services.

It’s the 4^th time in a row Dallas scored 100. To view the full report, click here:

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New plan outlined for Dallas Police’s VICE unit

The Dallas Police Department is in the process of standing up its new Vice Unit. The department has spent the past year investigating the issues surrounding the dismantling of the previous Vice unit. Additionally, DPD worked to create a more well-rounded program, completely changing its philosophy in how it approaches these crimes.

Through this new Vice unit, DPD aims to be more effective in providing help to victims of prostitution. This includes collaborating with external partners to give victims direct access to services with incarceration as a last resort. Learn more about the program by clicking New plan outlined for Dallas Police’s VICE unit appeared first on Dallas City News.

source http://www.dallascitynews.net/new-plan-outlined-dallas-polices-vice-unit

Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty opens in Fair Park

Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty, a groundbreaking exhibit is making its first appearance West of the Mississippi in Dallas. Hosted within Fair Park’s African American museum, the exhibition explores the lives of people enslaved at Monticello, the home of the United States third president Thomas Jefferson.  It’s an exhibit that was at least 50 years in the making, but well worth the wait.

The exhibition details the seemingly contradictory nature of Jefferson, who wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “All men are created equal,” yet held people in bondage.

“What people will see is a culmination of hard work, research, archeology as well as a lot of contributions from descendants,” says Gayle Jessup White, Community Engagement Coordinator for the Slavery at Monticello exhibit, “a lot of what was excavated was painful… because slavery was a very challenging topic to discuss and millions of people spent their lives oppressed and treated as property.”

Never before seen artifacts are featured in the exhibit, which has more than 300 objects, works of art, and documents from Jefferson’s Virginia plantation.  In addition, a special section of the exhibit is dedicated to Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman who negotiated freedom for her children, all fathered by Jefferson.

“Ultimately the story that people walk away with is one of inspiration,” White says, “because you see a people who managed within the confines of a situation to find lives for themselves, to form families, to form love relationships and to give their children a foundation so they would eventually become part of the American fabric.”

Watch the video below to see an interview with Gayle Jessup White,a descendent of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings as she discusses why the exhibit is important to her.

The African American Museum hosts the exhibit from Sept. 22 through December 31.  Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children and free for children 3 and under and African American Museum members. Tickets may be purchased in person at the African American Museum.  All proceeds benefit the African American Museum.

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Dallas to host regional environmental conference

The City of Dallas is committed to conserving natural resources for all people living and working with city limits. This year, the City is celebrating its 10-year anniversary of having an ISO 14001 certified Environmental Management System. To mark this milestone, the Office of Environmental Quality & Sustainability (OEQS) is hosting the North Texas ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Conference in October. The conference is the first of its kind in North Texas specifically targeting local municipalities and businesses.

On October 18, OEQS will be welcoming dozens of representatives from regional municipalities and corporations to Dallas to meet and share practices to reduce impacts to the environment. The keynote speaker will be Dallas’ Director of Aviation Mark Duebner, speaking on the Aviation Department’s Environmental Management System Journey.

City of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, Assistant City Manager Majed Al-Ghafry, and Gary Robinson, VP of Solutions for British Industrial Standards (BSI) will also speak on the benefits of an Environmental Management System.

The Environmental Protection Agency, will moderate a panel discussion on how an environmental management system helps operations, discuss lessons learned during the implementation of an environmental management system, and share universal best management practices. Panelists include industry experts from Eaton, Texas Instruments, Cisco, Lockheed Martin, the Dallas Zoo, and Dallas Park and Recreation.

Look for conference highlights and conclusions on GreenDallas.net at the end of October.

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source http://www.dallascitynews.net/dallas-host-regional-environmental-conference

New program helps businesses recover from natural disasters

A natural disaster strikes – not only are the effects devastating to the environment, but if you run a business, a bad storm can wreck you and your company financially.

The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is rolling out a new initiative with the Disaster Prepared Resident program and Public-Private Partnership programs to help Dallas communities return to a sense of normal faster after a disaster. This program is geared toward businesses of all sizes to help them answer the inevitable, “now what?” after a catastrophic event. The program is designed to help those in the private sector have the tools, communication strategies and resources necessary to contact employees, suppliers and customers and to get back to business.

According to FEMA estimates, 40 percent of small businesses do not reopen after a disaster and more than 60 percent of those that do recover fail within two years. This means that just 20 percent of small businesses survive these crisis situations. OEM is working with the Chambers of Commerce and industry professional groups for their input so that Dallas’s business community is more than just a statistic if disaster strikes.
For more information on this program, contact Rhonda Simpson at rhonda.simpson@dallascityhall.com.

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