The Chicago Blackhawks have fired coach Luke Richardson, signaling their frustration with the state of the franchise’s rebuilding project.

Two reported kidnapping attempts in North Texas may not have been what they seemed.

UT-Dallas is the second campus in Texas where Department of Public Safety troopers have made arrests while breaking up protests.

Allergy season is here, but it doesn't have to make you miserable.

Allergy season in the U.S. is starting sooner than experts expected.

Frederick Frazier’s runoff opponent accused him of posing as a city code compliance officer to get campaign signs taken down. Frazier said his opponent is to blame in the case.

A day after an 18-year-old man opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, killing 19 students and two teachers, law enforcement in North Texas and the Rio Grande Valley said they intercepted guns and credible threats against schools.

Evan Smith, CEO of The Texas Tribune, sat down with superintendents Michael Hinojosa of Dallas, Kent Scribner of Fort Worth and Jeannie Stone of Richardson.

Several departures come after months of contentious fights over teaching about slavery, requiring pandemic precautions and limiting what books kids can access.

Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have long threatened to sue school districts that defy Abbott’s ban on local mask mandates. On Friday, Paxton made good on that threat.

Seven counties and 48 school districts have imposed masking and social distancing requirements, the Texas Attorney General's Office has reported.

The Texas city of Kyle, south of Austin, asked residents Wednesday to suspend water usage until further notice because of a shortage. “We are close to running out of water supply in Kyle.”In Memphis, Tennessee, the power and water company asked residents to reduce their water usage through Friday. Meanwhile, the city's fire department said it has received hundreds of broken water pipe calls since Monday. Austin Water told residents in the southwest section of the city to boil water before using it for drinking or cooking. AdLeaders in Austin and the Houston area asked residents to stop dripping water from their faucets because of a drop in water pressure.

Nearly 3.4 million customers around the U.S. were still without electricity, and some also lost water service. More than 100 million people live in areas covered by some type of winter weather warning, watch or advisory, the weather service said. Weather-related outages have been particularly stubborn in Oregon, where some customers have been without power for almost a week. At the peak of the storm, more than 350,000 customers in the Portland area were in the dark. In Oregon, authorities confirmed Tuesday that four people died in the Portland area of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Chapman said she has been without power for two nights and is using the propane to keep warm. The worst U.S. power outages were in Texas, affecting more than 2 million homes and businesses. Texas officials said more than 400,000 doses due now will not arrive until at least Wednesday because of the storm. Several cities had record lows: In Minnesota, the Hibbing/Chisholm weather station registered minus 38 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 39 degrees Celsius). Sioux Falls, South Dakota, dropped to minus 26 Fahrenheit (minus 26 degrees Celsius).

“There were multiple people that were trapped within the confines of their vehicles and requiring the use of hydraulic rescue equipment to successfully extricate them,” said Fort Worth Fire Chief Jim Davis. “The roadway was so treacherous from the ice that several of the first responders were falling on the scene,” Zavadsky said. In suburban Austin, more than two dozen vehicles were involved in a pileup on an icy highway, and five people were taken to a hospital, emergency officials said. AdOriginal:A pileup just north of downtown Fort Worth has been deemed a “mass casualty event” by officials early Thursday morning. 02/11/2012 https://t.co/tV1yvpzDJ1 — Fort Worth Police (@fortworthpd) February 11, 2021The pileup was likely caused by the icy roads as the winter storm reamed Texas on Thursday.

Humberto Torres spreads ice melting pellets on the steps of an office building Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, in Richardson, Texas. A winter storm brought a coating of ice to parts of Texas. “The roadway was so treacherous from the ice that several of the first responders were falling on the scene,” Zavadsky said. AdIn suburban Austin, more than two dozen vehicles were involved in a pileup on an icy highway, and five people were taken to a hospital, emergency officials said. He said some areas that don't normally get snowfall will likely see heavy amounts over the next several days.

Thursday’s report from the Labor Department said the number of people who are continuing to receive unemployment benefits fell more than 700,000 to 7.76 million. The still-elevated number of jobless claims underscores that a full recovery from the pandemic recession remains far off. Some research suggests that by September, unemployed Americans had spent about two-thirds of what they had saved. The outlook for the economy over the next six months fell particularly hard, according to the Conference Board, a business research group. With roughly 20 million Americans unemployed, the pandemic recession is still causing hardship for many families.

In the previous week, more than 1 million had sought jobless aid. All told, the government said that 13.3 million people are continuing to receive traditional jobless benefits, up from 1.7 million a year ago. The roughly 1 million people who keep applying for unemployment aid each week point to a sluggish pace of improvement. On Friday, when the government issues the jobs report for August, its expected to report that employers added roughly 1.4 million jobs last month. That would still leave the economy about 13 million jobs short of the number its lost to the pandemic.

"It's a reminder to small businesses that our voices are dampened," Richardson told CNN Business. As a result of a heavily lobbied exemption, larger food-service operations landed $10 million loans from the PPP. Kura Sushi USA Inc., the largest revolving sushi chain in the US, disclosed a nearly $6 million loan. As of April 16, the SBA had approved more than 1.66 million loans for more than $342.2 billion, according to an agency report. "What does it matter if you work for a big restaurant chain or you work for a small restaurant chain?