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A daily look at the most significant and interesting stories affecting Dallas. Written by Michael Mooney, Naheed Rajwani-Dharsi and Tasha Tsiaperas.

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Two new books about Larry McMurtry could reshape the legacy of the beloved Texas author.

Why it matters: "Larry McMurtry: A Life," by literary biographer Tracy Daugherty, and "Pastures of the Empty Page," a collection of essays edited by former Wall Street Journal writer George Getschow, provide contrasting looks at the shifting public perceptions of the way women and people of color have been depicted in Texas literature over the last 50 years.

The big picture: McMurtry, the author of "Lonesome Dove," "Terms of Endearment," "The Last Picture Show," and the Oscar-winning screenplay for "Brokeback Mountain," was a lion of Texas letters. Before his death, in 2021, bibliophiles from all over the world would venture to his bookshop in Archer City hoping to catch a glimpse of him.

What's happening: Daugherty's book portrays McMurtry as cantankerous and pretentious, with eternally mixed feelings about his home state. The essays in Getschow's book consider McMurtry's position in the pantheon of great literature — along with a critical take on how he wrote about minority groups.

One of the main characters in "The Last Picture Show" refers to Korean women as "yellow," for example.

Though McMurtry's been called an "accidental feminist" for his depiction of women — including Lorena in "Lonesome Dove" — an essay in "Pastures of the Empty Page" points out that women of color in McMurtry's books are often sex workers.

Context: McMurtry was born into a long lineage of ranchers but thought of himself as a "word herder," writing about life in Texas and the American West with unprecedented clarity and candor.

The modesty: Despite his success — including a Pulitzer Prize for "Lonesome Dove" — McMurtry often described himself as a "minor regional novelist."

What they're saying: "Posthumous assessments of Larry's body of work will play a critical role in determining whether the former cowboy is one of the world's greatest writers — in league with the likes of Joyce, Kafka, Woolf, Fitzgerald, Austin, Melville, Dostoevsky and Proust," Getschow tells Axios.

The intrigue: McMurtry's own essays played a significant role in reshaping the legacy of J. Frank Dobie, a prominent Texas author from an earlier generation.

McMurtry described Dobie's prose as "a congealed mass of virtually undifferentiated anecdotage: endlessly repetitious, thematically empty, structureless, and carelessly written."

What we're watching: Two more books about McMurtry are in the works. One is a biography by David Streitfeld of The New York Times and one is a memoir by McMurtry's longtime collaborator, Diana Ossana.

Go deeper: Read Texas Monthly's review of Daugherty's book and an excerpt of Erik Calonius' essay from "Pastures of the Empty Page."

New books could reshape Larry McMurtry's legacy

Two new books look at the perception of depictions of women and people of color in Texas literature.

Larry McMurtry. Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage

Texas

Two new books about Larry McMurtry could reshape the legacy of the beloved Texas author.Why it matters: &quot;<a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Larry McMurtry: A Life" data-vars-click-url="https://www.amazon.com/Larry-McMurtry-Life-Tracy-Daugherty/dp/1250282330" data-vars-content-id="79b041e8-60b9-440e-8af4-ba2bc4107454" data-vars-headline="New books could reshape Larry McMurtry&#x27;s legacy" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/Larry-McMurtry-Life-Tracy-Daugherty/dp/1250282330" target="_blank">Larry McMurtry: A Life</a>,&quot; by literary biographer Tracy Daugherty, and &quot;<a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Pastures of the Empty Page" data-vars-click-url="https://www.amazon.com/Pastures-Empty-Page-Writers-McMurtry/dp/1477327878/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2187LIIE9CQFW&amp;keywords=pastures+open+page&amp;qid=1694112050&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=pastures+open+pag%2Cstripbooks%2C99&amp;sr=1-1" data-vars-content-id="79b041e8-60b9-440e-8af4-ba2bc4107454" data-vars-headline="New books could reshape Larry McMurtry&#x27;s legacy" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/Pastures-Empty-Page-Writers-McMurtry/dp/1477327878/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2187LIIE9CQFW&amp;keywords=pastures+open+page&amp;qid=1694112050&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=pastures+open+pag%2Cstripbooks%2C99&amp;sr=1-1" target="_blank">Pastures of the Empty Page</a>,&quot; a collection of essays edited by former Wall Street Journal writer George Getschow, provide contrasting looks at the shifting public perceptions of the way women and people of color have been depicted in Texas literature over the last 50 years.

News

Culture

Tiny doors are appearing all over downtown McKinney — and they're, well, absolutely adoorable.

The tiny picture: The 7-inch doors are a public art exhibit, a collaboration among downtown businesses and local artists. Each miniature door is unique. Some include tiny mailboxes and flower pots. Some look like little bitty versions of storefronts they're attached to.

Dozens of tiny doors are on display, with more in the works, Andrew Jones, director of McKinney's Cultural District and Historic Downtown, tells Axios.

Micromanagement: Jones says the exhibit had been a dream of his for years. The project took months to put together. While he wrangled the businesses, artist Beth Fields oversaw the creation of the doors.

What they're saying: "Downtown McKinney already has that Norman Rockwell feel to it," Jones says. "But the doors add a new level of whimsy."

State of play: Despite the oppressive heat, it's not rare to see families walking store to store, searching for these enchanting little doors.

Zoom out: Tiny doors are a thing. Other cities, including Ann Arbor and Atlanta, have tiny-door displays. Some places call them "fairy doors."

Between the lines: City leaders are all-in on the tiny doors. McKinney's mayor recently held a tiny ribbon cutting.

Go deeper: If you want to see every tiny door in town, this map is handy.

What's next: This month, downtown McKinney will host its annual Oktoberfest — where these tiny doors will be a big topic of conversation.

The bottom line: If you need us, we'll be staring at the ground in downtown McKinney.

A tiny blue door at the bottom of a brick wall

A tiny yellow and white awning over a tiny brown door

A tiny red door at the bottom of a wooden wall

A goddess-themed door at the bottom of a brick wall

A tiny door with tiny caution tape and an under construction sign

A tiny barn-style door and a tiny plaster chicken

A little red door under a tiny sign that says Little Red Hen

A tiny door with a painted peace sign on it

A tiny blue door at the bottom of stone wall

Why downtown McKinney has so many tiny doors

Dozens of tiny doors are on display, with more in the works.

Some of these doors are a little hidden — which makes finding them even more rewarding. Photo: Courtesy of Cormac West

Tiny doors are appearing all over downtown McKinney — and they&#x27;re, well, absolutely adoorable.The tiny picture: The 7-inch doors are a public art exhibit, a collaboration among downtown businesses and local artists. Each miniature door is unique. Some include tiny mailboxes and flower pots. Some look like little bitty versions of storefronts they&#x27;re attached to.

Large swaths of Dallas County lack internet access, but a variety of public groups are working to change that.

Why it matters: Dallas has a sordid history of disinvestment that disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic residents, especially in the southern half of the county.

The big picture: Areas that lack internet access also tend to be infrastructure deserts, Bill Zielinski, the City of Dallas' chief information officer, told Axios during an event Thursday about the issue. The gap in the digital divide also leads to gaps in outcomes in health and life expectancy.

Flashback: An SMU study published last year identified 62 Dallas neighborhoods as infrastructure deserts — low-income areas without access to services including public transportation, hospitals and food that create a safe, functional and economically viable area.

What's happening: Dallas has worked to identify the communities that need the assistance, provide them with devices for digital access, and help in signing up for service, Zielinski says.

The city has also invested in free Wi-Fi at parks and recreation centers to expand access.

Yes, but: "Over time, we all need to look for solutions that don't just provide a Band-Aid on the front end of this," Zielinski says.

Details: An estimated 76,000 low-income households in the county qualify for but aren't subscribed to low-cost internet.

About a quarter of Dallas County households earning less than $50,000 don't own a computer, per a county analysis.

By the numbers: U.S. Census data from 2020 showed that 42% of Dallas households lacked fixed internet access. Dallas had the worst household connection rate among major Texas cities and was the sixth worst city in the country, per KERA.

When Dallas schools switched to virtual learning during the early stages of the pandemic, DISD learned that more than one-third of Dallas families lacked internet access.

What's next: County leaders will select a company to build a fiber network between county buildings and housing sites that could bring high-speed internet to unserved communities.

The county has $35 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds for the project.

North Texas' digital divide affects thousands of residents

About 76,000 low-income households in the county qualify for but aren't subscribed to low-cost internet.

Dallas chief information officer Bill Zielinski and Axios Dallas reporter Naheed Rajwani-Dharsi at yesterday's "Building Connections Across the Divide" event. Photo: Jacque Manaugh/Axios

Large swaths of Dallas County lack internet access, but a variety of public groups are working to change that.Why it matters: Dallas has a <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="sordid" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2022/08/25/dallas-acknowledges-racist-history" data-vars-content-id="d30605a2-9dde-4dda-899e-027b41b1a34b" data-vars-headline="North Texas&#x27; digital divide affects thousands of residents" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2022/08/25/dallas-acknowledges-racist-history" target="_self">sordid</a> <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="history" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2022/06/26/community-park-dallas-right-historic-wrongs" data-vars-content-id="d30605a2-9dde-4dda-899e-027b41b1a34b" data-vars-headline="North Texas&#x27; digital divide affects thousands of residents" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2022/06/26/community-park-dallas-right-historic-wrongs" target="_self">history</a> of disinvestment that disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic residents, especially in the southern half of the county.

Four months after a gunman killed eight people and injured seven more at an outlet mall in Allen, a local company is organizing a gun show less than a mile away.

Driving the news: The Allen Gun Show will take place this weekend at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center.

Why it matters: An event promising "over 500 tables of guns, knives, ammo and shooting supplies" so close to the site of a recent mass shooting is paradigmatic of the gun-rights divide in America.

While mass shootings often fuel debate over gun regulation, several studies have shown that they also lead to a temporary increase in gun sales.

Catch up fast: On May 6, a 33-year-old Dallas man drove to the outlet mall with eight legally purchased guns and opened fire near H&M.

An Allen police officer fatally shot the gunman.

Two young sisters and a couple and their 3-year-old son were among the people killed.

The intrigue: The city of Allen and Premier Gun Shows, the Fort Worth-based company organizing the event, canceled a similar gun show planned for July 15-16 after a mutual agreement, per the Dallas Morning News.

City officials and the company didn't elaborate on their agreement at the time or say whether the cancellation was related to the shooting.

Context: Premier hosts gun shows across the state almost every weekend of the year, including The Original Fort Worth Gun Show.

The company has another gun show scheduled at the same Allen venue in November.

Data: Gun Violence Archive; Chart: Axios Visuals

Zoom out: Last year the NRA held its national convention in Houston, a few days after 19 children and two teachers were killed at an elementary school in Uvalde.

What they're saying: Neither Premier nor the mayor of Allen responded to multiple requests for comment. 

Meanwhile: The Biden administration announced last month that it's proposing to eliminate the so-called gun show loophole.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has proposed a regulation that would mean anyone who deals in firearms for profit must get a federal license and conduct criminal background checks — regardless of where and how the guns are sold.

Gun show coming to Allen months after mass shooting

The Allen Gun Show will take place this weekend at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center.

An outdoor memorial set up for Allen after the shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets

People from across North Texas joined Allen residents in mourning after the May shooting. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Guns

Four months after <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="a gunman killed eight people" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2023/07/05/allen-shooting-texas-questions" data-vars-content-id="e1f3cd12-de2c-4055-8539-b7c025517283" data-vars-headline="Gun show coming to Allen months after mass shooting" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2023/07/05/allen-shooting-texas-questions" target="_self">a gunman killed eight people</a> and injured seven more at an outlet mall in Allen, a local company is organizing a gun show less than a mile away.Driving the news: The <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Allen Gun Show" data-vars-click-url="https://www.premiergunshows.com/shows/allen-gun-show/" data-vars-content-id="e1f3cd12-de2c-4055-8539-b7c025517283" data-vars-headline="Gun show coming to Allen months after mass shooting" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.premiergunshows.com/shows/allen-gun-show/" target="_blank">Allen Gun Show</a> will take place this weekend at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center.

Texas could have nearly $5 billion directed toward expanding broadband availability statewide if voters approve a state constitutional amendment on the ballot in November.

State of play: Texas will receive more than $3.3 billion in federal money — more than any other state — to help expand broadband access, the Biden administration announced this year.

Texans will be able to vote on whether to create a Broadband Infrastructure Fund allocating $1.5 billion in state money to expand broadband availability.

Zoom out: As of 2022, almost 2.8 million Texas households and 7 million people in the state lack broadband access, according to the state comptroller. 

"Twenty-three percent of Texans are unable to attend online classes ... fill out a job application online or access online marketplaces from their kitchen table," the comptroller's report states

Reality check: Residents will need consistent and long-term broadband access after state and federal funds run out.

What they're saying: "We're really interested in seeing what you can do to increase that equity and that affordability and that connectivity, and speed is one of the important things," Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins told Axios during Thursday's program about bridging the digital divide. "This is not like building the convention center where it should take 10 years."

Texans to vote on statewide broadband funding in November

Texas could have nearly $5 billion directed toward expanding broadband availability.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said the county is using bilingual advertising to inform residents about affordable broadband options. Photo: Jacque Manaugh/Axios

Texas could have nearly $5 billion directed toward expanding broadband availability statewide if voters approve a state constitutional amendment on the ballot in November.State of play: Texas will receive more than $3.3 billion in federal money — more than any other state — to help expand broadband access, the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Biden administration announced" data-vars-click-url="https://internet4all.gov/news-media/biden-harris-administration-announces-state-allocations-4245-billion-high-speed-internet" data-vars-content-id="e41871e6-0fbb-44f6-bd60-e28fcaeb946c" data-vars-headline="Texans to vote on statewide broadband funding in November" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://internet4all.gov/news-media/biden-harris-administration-announces-state-allocations-4245-billion-high-speed-internet" target="_blank">Biden administration announced</a> this year.

Michael Mooney

Featured stories

Gun show coming to Allen months after mass shooting

Texans to vote on statewide broadband funding in November

North Texas' digital divide affects thousands of residents

Why downtown McKinney has so many tiny doors

New books could reshape Larry McMurtry's legacy