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Continue reading "Truman Middle School to Become a STEM Academy for Girls" »
For the third day in a row, the Grand Prairie AirHogs scored multiple runs in the first inning, never were tied or behind the rest of the way, and cruised to another win. This time it was a 5-2 win over the Kansas City T-Bones at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, giving Grand Prairie a six-game winning streak.
David Espinosa started the game with a base-hit that hopped over the head of the first baseman Nick Farnsworth, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by David Thomas. Thomas then stole second and scored on Cesar Nicolas's single to give the AirHogs (12-5) the early lead.
Continue reading "Winning Streak Hits Six as Grand Prairie Tops Kansas City" »
Grand Prairie's annual Memorial Day celebration held Monday at the Veterans Memorial.
Just like Saturday night, the Grand Prairie AirHogs scored in the first, got a good six-inning outing from their starting pitcher and three good bullpen innings and beat the Shreveport-Bossier Captains by two runs, this time winning 3-1 on Sunday in front of 2,826 fans at QuikTrip Park to complete a three-game sweep of the defending American Association champions.
Continue reading "AirHogs Win Fifth Straight, Sweep Captains" »
The Grand Prairie AirHogs kept rolling Saturday night, beating the Shreveport-Bossier Captains 5-3 for their fourth straight win and a clinch of their fourth straight series win in front of 2,380 fans at QuikTrip Park.
The AirHogs (10-5) began the attack in the first, with David Thomas , Cesar Nicolas and Greg Porter singling with one out in the first to load the bases. Captains starter Aaron Cunningham (1-2) then threw eight of the next nine pitches out of the strike zone to John Alonso and Tyler Henley, giving Grand Prairie the lead. The red-hot Jake Taylor then hit a sac fly to make it 3-0 before Cunningham was able to get out of the inning.
Continue reading "Brownell Goes to 3-0 as AirHogs Roll 5-3" »
Hart said the city received more than 100 resumes for the job. He narrowed this to a list of eleven candidates that met the qualifications, traits, and experience he was looking for in a Police Chief.
The eleven candidates were then video interviewed. The videos were reviewed by a panel including the City Manager’s Office, Mayor England, Human Resources Director Lisa Norris, and Acting Police Chief Michael Shaw.
Continue reading "Finalist Selected in Search for New Police Chief" »
It was not to be the eighth home run of the night, but John Alonso's fly ball to left field with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning was just deep enough to allow David Espinosa to tag up and score the 25th and final run on a wild Friday night, as the Grand Prairie AirHogs outlasted the Shreveport-Bossier Captains 13-12 in front of 1,712 fans at QuikTrip Park.
The start of the game belied what was to come, as both starters, Grand Prairie's Jae Jung and Shreveport-Bossier's Osvaldo Rodriguez, retired the side in order in the first.
The city will have a Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, May 30 at 10 a.m. at the Grand Prairie Veterans Memorial, 925 W. Conover. The event will feature a bagpiper, 21-gun salute, flyover, photo display, free lunch, free trees and military memorabilia for sale.
Memorial Day hours for other city services are as follows:
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| On Wednesday, Assistant Superintendant, Angie McDonald (left) of Advantage Academy donated 27 computers to Julie Mitchell (right) Director of Grand Prairie Boys & Girls Club. Submitted photo |
On Wednesday, Advantage Academy donated 27 computers with flat screen monitors to the Grand Prairie Boys and Girls Club to be used by children up through age 18 for homework, educational learning tools, and tutoring done by National Honor Society students and other volunteers .
Continue reading "Advantage Academy Donates Computers to Grand Prairie Boys & Girls Club" »
The annual Shattered Dreams mock accident hosted by the Grand Prairie Police Department for high school students to see the results of drunk driving.
This video is of a mock accident with high school students made up to look like injured accident victims. Some of the scenes are graphic and may be disturbing to some people.
Grand Prairie police will once again conduct its annual “Click It or Ticket” campaign during May for the Memorial Day holiday period.
Making his fourth straight start at shortstop, the Grand Prairie AirHogs' Jake Taylor made a pair of errors in the first inning. But neither of those runners scored and Taylor more than made up for it with three RBIs, as the AirHogs scored four seventh-inning runs to erase a 3-1 deficit and beat the Sioux City Explorers 5-3 on Wednesday, winning the series two out of three, and finishing their first road trip of the year at 4-2.
Continue reading "Seventh Inning Rally Clinches Series for 'Hogs" »
When the Grand Prairie AirHogs signed the 2002 National League Rookie of the Year Jason Jennings to start on Tuesday night, the plan was for the righty to throw about 50 pitches in his first start of the season. Nearing the five innings necessary to be eligible for a victory, the veteran hurler convinced manager Ricky VanAsselberg to let him throw a few more. Jennings completed the fifth and departed with 66 pitches and his bats backed him up, scoring seven times in a 7-2 victory over the Sioux City Explorers at Lewis and Clark Park
Continue reading "Jennings Strong in First Start - AirHogs top X's" »
Destructive tornadoes, large hail to 3 inched in diameter, thunderstorm wind gusts to 70 mph, and dangerous lightning are possible.
Continue reading "Dangerous Severe Weather Possible This Evening and Tonight" »
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Thunderstorms are expected to develop mid to late afternoon out west and rapidly become severe as they move east into Grand Prairie.
Continue reading "Severe Weather Expected Later Today" »
While Josh Rainwater's seven shutout innings to earn the American Association Pitcher of the Week award in the first week of the season was impressive enough, Grand Prairie AirHogs lefty Greg Smith topped that performance on May 17 against the Lincoln Saltdogs. With one of the best handful of games ever pitched in the franchise's short history, Smith hurled a complete game, five-hit shutout, allowing all singles and no walks or hit batters, struck out nine and faced only two over the minimum.
Continue reading "AirHogs Greg Smith Selected American Association Pitcher of the Week" »
Although Sunday's game looked early like a replay of Saturday night's, the Grand Prairie AirHogs flipped the script after another big Kansas City T-Bones first inning, coming back with a three-run fourth and four-run fifth to win 8-4 and take the rubber match of their three-game series at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
Grand Prairie AirHogs righty Jae Jung endured a nightmare start to Saturday night's game, as the first five batters all reached and scored against him to spark the Kansas City T-Bones to a 7-2 win at Community America Ballpark.
Continue reading "Early Thunder Sends T-Bones to Easy Win" »
With Veronica Y Avance and The Tejas Brothers providing entertainment, the Uptown Theater held its 2011-2012 Concert Series announcement party Friday night.
Next season’s spectacular lineup of talented artists features a series of concerts with a variety of music.
2011-2012 Concert Series:
Continue reading "Get Amped Up- Uptown Concert Series Announcement Party" »
Early on Friday night, it was all or nothing for the Grand Prairie AirHogs and Kansas City T-Bones. Starters Josh Rainwater for the AirHogs and T.J. Large were throwing up strikeouts but the runs were also piling up. Eventually, the AirHogs came out of the scrap on top, as a five-run fourth was the difference in a 9-5 Grand Prairie win at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
After many delays, bankruptcy of one developer, Grand Prairie will finally have a hospital again. The former DFW Medical Center is set to reopen in June as Texas General Hospital.
The hospital, that was closed in 2000, was purchased in July 2010 by HealthSites after the bankruptcy in 2008 of Renaissance Hospital Grand Prairie, the firm originally developing and renovating the former DFW Medical Center.
School district spokesperson Sam Buchmeyer said the all girl campus is one proposal the district is looking at to help it more efficiently utilize Truman and its staff. He continued that for the past few years enrollment at Truman has shrunk. Currently, about 550 students attend Truman. The school was designed to accommodate 800-900 students.
Continue reading "School District Considers All Girl Campus for Truman Middle School" »
In July, movies will play at 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursday, and at 7 p.m. Thursday nights.
Scheduled are:
Continue reading "Uptown Theater Launches July Movie Madness" »
Police said eight-year-old Jordan League was riding his bicycle on Christopher Ct. at about 7:40 p.m. when he rode into Christopher St. in front of a 1985 Dodge pickup that was southbound on Christopher St.
Grand Prairie police are asking for the public’s help in locating a “Critical Missing Person”.
Curtis Byrd is a black male, 59 years of age, walks with a cane, and is diabetic. He also has a heart condition.
Byrd was last seen on 04/29/2011 at Lonestar Park and was driving a white, 2007 Kia Rio with Texas Plates JST-918.
While the 5,014 fans at QuikTrip Park on Wednesday – many of them children on Education Day – may have had an unforgettable day, the Grand Prairie AirHogs had one they would rather not think about, as six errors and tough Lincoln Saltdogs pitching doomed them to an 8-1 defeat, snapping a four-game winning streak and preventing an AirHogs series sweep.
Continue reading "More Than 5,000 See Grand Prairie Drop Series Finale" »
“This clinic is extremely important for our community,” said Charles England, mayor of Grand Prairie. “Thousands of Grand Prairie residents will be able to take care of their health care needs here in town now instead of having to travel Parkland hospital in Dallas.”
Continue reading "Parkland Breaks Ground on New Grand Prairie Health Center" »
By Josh Hirsch/Grand Prairie AirHogs
The Grand Prairie AirHogs, along with the USSSA Florida Pride, the City of Grand Prairie announced today a National Professional Fastpitch (NPF) series that will take place at QuikTrip Park, August 5-7.
The teams featured in this match-up will be the 2010 NPF Champion USSSA Florida Pride against the NPF Diamonds.
Continue reading "QuikTrip Park to Host Pro Softball in August" »
By Josh Hirsch/Grand Prairie AirHogs
After one time through the Grand Prairie AirHogs' starting rotation, each of the five pitchers had worked at least into the sixth inning. With the second turn starting on Tuesday, lefty Greg Smith raised the bar on his teammates, as he hurled a five-hit, no-walk, nine-strikeout shutout against the Lincoln Saltdogs in front of 1,344 at QuikTrip Park to extend the AirHogs' win streak to four.
The Grand Prairie Police Department began National Police Week with its annual Police Memorial Service on Monday.
The service that took place in front of the Police/Fire Memorial Wall at the Grand Prairie Public Safety Building honored the two Grand Prairie police officers who died in the line of duty, Lyndon King and Sgt. Gregory Hunter.
Just like in Sunday's game against Gary SouthShore, the Grand Prairie AirHogs got into an early hole against the Lincoln Saltdogs on Monday night. But just like the previous day, the AirHogs got a five-spot early on, and their starting pitcher - on this occasion righty John Brownell - pitched well and Grand Prairie cruised to a 6-3 victory in front of 1,167 fans at QuikTrip Park.
Grand Prairie AirHogs righty Josh Rainwater had a brilliant outing on Saturday, pitching seven shutout innings with three hits, no walks and five strikeouts to lead the 'Hogs to their first win of the 2011 season. The outing also turned out to bring the AirHogs their first league-wide honor of the year, as Rainwater was named the American Association Pitcher of the Week honors, as selected by Pointstreak, the official statistician of the American Association.
The first time through the batting order, Gary SouthShore RailCats pitcher Derrick Gordon retired eight of the nine Grand Prairie AirHogs he faced on Sunday night. But the next six hitters all reached and five of them scored - enough to give the AirHogs a 5-4 victory and a season-opening series split in front of 4,585 at QuikTrip Park.
Continue reading "Five-run Third Earns AirHogs Series Split" »
Voters overwhelmingly approved the Grand Prairie ISD $70 million bond package to fund infrastructure upgrades, capital improvements and equipment.
With Dallas County reporting all precincts counted:
Continue reading "City Election Results – Incumbents Retain Seats, School Bond Package Approved" »
Friday night, the Grand Prairie AirHogs' starting pitcher was excellent and the hitters scored two runs - but the AirHogs lost to the Gary SouthShore RailCats in 11 innings. One night later, Grand Prairie's starter was excellent again, and the AirHogs again scored a pair of runs, but this time they were enough to get a victory for Josh Rainwater, as Grand Prairie snuck by the RailCats 2-1 in front of a Fireworks Saturday crowd of 4,205 at QuikTrip Park.
Once again the AirHogs (1-2) got on the board first, as Kevin Thompson reached on an infield single, moved to second on a bunt by David Thomas, went to third on a bloop single by Cesar Nicolas and scored on Greg Porter's sacrifice fly. Grand Prairie got its second and final run the following inning on an RBI triple to right-center by Guillermo Martinez.
Commission Chairman Rolando Pablos said, “The Commission is pleased to have formally considered this application. The members of this body understand like so many others the clear importance of Lone Star Park to the racing industry in Texas and to the City of Grand Prairie. We have been concerned about Lone Star Park and its future.
Continue reading "Racing Commission Approves Change of Ownership of Lone Star Park" »
Returning to the QuikTrip Park mound for the first time since the Grand Prairie AirHogs inaugural season in 2008, righty Scot Drucker displayed the form that got him signed by the Detroit Tigers' organization that year. But for the second night in a row, the Gary SouthShore RailCats got the bigger hits late, as they scored three runs in the 11th inning to nip the 'Hogs in front of a crowd of 1,776 on Friday.
The AirHogs (0-2) scored first on a sacrifice fly by Cesar Nicolas in the third, and for a bit it looked like Drucker would make the lone run stand up.
The Miami native retired the first four men he faced before Louis Ott singled with one out in the second. But the AirHogs righty promptly induced a double play from Kyle Haines to end the inning. He allowed a two-out single in the third but then picked of Chris Carrara to end that frame, and got another inning-ending double play in the fourth before hurling a perfect fifth.
Continue reading "Late Runs Doom AirHogs in 11-inning Loss" »
Police said Jayson Lee Steptoe, 30, and Curtis Smith, 21, both residents of the Sugar Creek Apartments, became involved in an argument outside an apartment at 940 Lazybrook Lane around 2:45 p.m. Steptoe went inside his apartment, returned with a handgun and shot Smith as he sat in a car.
Smith got out of the car, ran from Steptoe who continued to fire his gun as he chased Smith. After running out of ammunition, Steptoe got into a Chevrolet Suburban and fled the complex.
Continue reading "Argument leads to shooting, car chase and arrest" »
Playfully themed “Expose Your Green Side,” the campaign will play up the “cool factor” of becoming more environmentally savvy, and educate residents on the benefits of recycling, reducing pollution and participating in the curbside recycling program.
Continue reading "City Launches Revamped Curbside Recycling Awareness Campaign" »
By Josh Hirsch – Grand Prairie AirHogs
The new era in Grand Prairie AirHogs baseball got off to a very entertaining start Thursday night, although the team did not get the result it wanted, as the Gary SouthShore RailCats put up two eighth-inning runs to tip the see-saw game their way for good, winning 8-7 in front of 2,612 fans at QuikTrip Park.
RailCats shortstop Kyle Haines hit a two-run single to left with two outs off Grand Prairie reliever Dustin Cameron (0-1) to provide the final margin and David Nathanson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning with two strikeouts to get his first professional save in the fifth-year pro's third-ever relief outing.
Continue reading "AirHogs Lose Season Opener in Close Game" »
Manager Ricky VanAsselberg’s 22-man roster has 10 pitchers and 12 position players, and includes two former Major Leaguers as well as five players who have played with the club in the past.
One of the former big-leaguers, Greg Smith, will get the opening day start against the Gary SouthShore RailCats at 7:05 p.m. at QuikTrip Park, against RailCats righty Scott Shaw. The AirHogs’ lefty was with the Colorado Rockies last season, and also had a stint with the Oakland A’s in 2008.
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The National Weather Service in Fort Worth said Grand Prairie could see some severe thunderstorms today and tonight.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms will continue to develop across North Texas through this afternoon. Some of these storms will have the potential to produce large hail and damaging winds as well as heavy rain and cloud to ground lightning. Isolated Tornadoes are also possible.
Continue reading "Severe Weather Likely This Afternoon Through This Evening" »
Saturday night, Grand Prairie’s historic Uptown Theater was transformed into the “Vegas Years” complete with blinking lights and flamingo girls as world renowned Elvis tribute artist Kraig Parker introduced his new show, Elvis "That's The Way It Is!" to the near capacity crowd.
Parker, who said the “Vegas Years” is his favorite era of Presley’s career, showed it with an outstanding, energetic performance.
Grand Prairie High School’s JROTC Gopher Battalion held its 12th annual Change of Command and Pass in Review ceremony Thursday at The Gopher-Warrior Bowl.
CW4 (Ret) "Chief" Tom Knedler, JROTC leader, said the ceremony is a long standing Army tradition when a command changes and the unit’s colors are passed to the new commander.
The ceremony that involved the entire Gopher Battalion saw outgoing Commander Cadet Colonel Taylor Smith turn over her command of the unit to the newly appointed commander, Cadet Lt. Colonel Alyssa Arredonodo.
Continue reading "Gopher Battalion Change of Command Ceremony" »
More than 500 AirHogs fans, dignitaries, and sponsors packed QuikTrip Park Thursday night to get a preview of the Grand Prairie AirHogs 2011 season at the team's inaugural “Party at the Park .”
General Manager Craig Brasfied spoke to the standing-room-only crowd in the left field bar area about the team’s new promotions and the affordable prices set for the season. Field Manager Ricky VanAsselberg gave a run down on the type of baseball fans can expect to see the AirHogs play and his style of managing.
Pastors from across Grand Prairie gathered at the Liberty Bell at City Hall Plaza to to lead a large crowd in prayer as they celebrated the National Day of Prayrer.
The pastors took turns leading the crowd in prayer for the country, state, city, schools, and the men and women servicing in the armed forces.
Gola was elected in February at the association's annual convention in Austin. In this position, Gola oversees the committee that recommends changes and reviews proposals affecting the Association’s structure and governance. As chair of a statewide committee, she also serves on the 10-member TCTA Executive Board and on the Directors’ Council.
Continue reading "Teacher Re-elected to Statewide TCTA Office" »
The Grand Prairie Police Department is seeking the public’s help in finding a “Critical Missing Person” named Grover Earl Hudson:
Black male
43 years of age
6’2” tall
Weighing 200 pounds
Short, sculpted hair
Mustache and goatee
He was last seen wearing a purple, silk shirt, blue jeans and black dress shoes.
This weekend the parking lots at Verizon Theater were transformed into complex sets of traffic coned marked courses setup to test the skills of motorcycle police officers. The three days of training, head to head competition featuring electric motorcycles, and course practice runs, concluded with the skills rodeo on Saturday.
Hosted by the Grand Prairie Police Department and John Wright Associates, Inc., the first annual Spring Classic Police Motorcycle Rodeo attracted fifty motorcycle officers with experience level ranging from just a few months as motorcycle officer to Grand Prairie’s Kim Wolf with more than twenty-years as a motorcycle officer.
Thanks to more than 200 volunteers from Foresters™, a life insurance provider committed to the well-being of families, Grand Prairie Parks and Recreation, Grand Prairie Boys Baseball, and non-profit KaBOOM!, Grand Prairie got a brand new, 2,500 square-foot playground that included features such as a Glide Slide, Spiral Climber and Swing Sets.
The playground located at 2501 Pine Street was built in one day on land that was once used as an approach for aircraft to the runways of the former Naval Air Station on Mountain Creek Lake.
Planning for the playground began at a Design Day event held in March when local children and community leaders met with organizers from KaBOOM! and Foresters to design their dream playground. The children's drawings were then used to create the final playground design.
