Dozens of women, many wearing "Save Dallas Strip Clubs" shirts, gathered at Dallas City Hall yesterday asking council members to allow sexually oriented businesses to stay open after 2am. To no avail.

• The council ultimately unanimously approved an ordinance that closes the businesses between 2 and 6am. The measure also requires employees to be over 21, matching a new state law.

What happened: Several women who spoke against the change identify themselves as single mothers who work overnight to be home in the morning to see their children off to school.

• Other community members and anti-trafficking organizations said they support the ordinance to help reduce violent crime.

Why it matters: The vote shows Chief Eddie Garcia has the full, unanimous support of the mayor and council.

• Garcia pointed to data showing more aggravated assaults and other crimes occur after 2am than before.

The intrigue: Some council members expressed concern at the swiftness of the vote. Council member Omar Narvaez said a task force should've studied the measure for six months as originally discussed at the committee level.

What they're saying: "When we rush policy, we get bad policy. I think this started off with good intentions," Narvaez said. "We're going to pass this. I'm apologizing to all of you industry workers right now because I didn't do enough. I gave up."

• Narvaez voted in favor of the ordinance change.

The other side: "This item is about public safety. Period. It's not about anything else," Johnson said.

Of note: As part of the ordinance, council members approved a motion from Narvaez to reassess the operating hours of sexually oriented businesses in two years.

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Hispanic Texans have one of the highest rates of mortgage denials in the country, with 19.1% of their applications rejected.

The big picture: Mortgage applications submitted by Black and Latino Texans were disproportionately denied compared to their white counterparts in 2020, according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data analyzed by Zillow.

Why it matters: Homeownership is a primary way to build wealth, and non-white Americans have historically been shut out of this opportunity by systemic racism and segregation policies.

• This has created a racial generational wealth gap that persists into the 21st century.

Context: Dallas has a particularly racist history when it comes to housing. The city hired a consulting firm to propose solutions.

By the numbers: According to Zillow's report, 18.7% of Black mortgage applicants in Texas were denied in 2020, compared to 11.2% of white applicants.

• Zillow also found that 38% of Latin0 buyers said they were "very concerned" about qualifying for a mortgage, compared to 22% of white mortgage buyers.
• One third of Latin0 mortgage buyers reported being denied at least once for a mortgage before ultimately being approved, compared to 20% of white buyers.

Zoom out: Across the country, the denial rate for Black applicants was 19.8% versus 10.7% for white applicants.

New coronavirus cases are dropping statewide, indicating the Omicron wave may be receding.

The big picture: Cases are dropping on the East Coast, which was the first to see a spike in coronavirus cases driven by the Omicron variant.

• NIAID director Anthony Fauci says most states will reach a peak in Omicron coronavirus cases by mid-February.

By the numbers: Texas reported 25,268 new confirmed COVID-19 cases yesterday, down from 47,966 last Wednesday.

• Texas was reporting a few thousand new cases a day in December.

Yes, but: The number of people dying from COVID has been increasing in the past week nationwide.

• Deaths are a lagging indicator of COVID's spread.

🚨 A man facing a federal weapons charge tells investigators he sold a semiautomatic pistol for $150 to the man who took four people hostage at a Colleyville synagogue. (NBC DFW)

🏀 Dallas Mavericks guard Tim Hardaway Jr. is out after fracturing the fifth metatarsal in his left foot. (ESPN)

🐝 Filipino fast-food restaurant Jollibee is expected to open in a former Jack in the Box on Greenville Avenue later this year. (DMN)

🥊 The Dallas police officer seen punching a man outside a Deep Ellum bar in a viral video last summer has been fired. (WFAA)

⚖️ Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot says prosecutors will no longer make charging recommendations to grand juries. (CBS DFW)

Dave Lieber, the veteran Dallas Morning News consumer-advocacy columnist who dubs himself "The Watchdog," wrote a new play that's going to be performed in Coppell next month.

• The show is about Ross Perot, the peculiar, brash business magnate who twice ran as a third-party candidate for president.

Why it matters: While people under 40-ish probably remember Perot best from the epic Dana Carvey parodies on "Saturday Night Live," he was a pretty interesting, complicated local figure who drastically changed the character of North Texas.

What they're saying: "When I heard Ross Perot Jr.'s eulogy for his dad on the family's website, it was the most emotional, honest, passionate piece of writing," Lieber tells Axios. "I decided to reverse engineer it going back to see how it all came to be."

• Here's video of the real Perot and Carl Merritt, the actor playing Perot, talking back-to-back.

🎭 The play is "PEROT! American Patriot."

🎫 It shows Feb. 11-13, 18-20, 25-27. Tickets cost $19-$22.

Our six word thought bubble: So weird it might be amazing.