Axios Dallas

April 01, 2026
Happy Wednesday! Take a step back when you need to.
🌧️ Today's weather: High near 87 and a chance of rain.
🎵 Sounds like: "Wildflowers"
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🕍 Situational awareness: No plagues for you! A joyful Passover to all who are celebrating. The Jewish holiday begins at sundown.
Today's newsletter is 925 blooming words — a 3.5-minute read.
1 big thing: Breaking ties with César Chávez
For decades, schools, roads and history books have honored the late César Chávez's contributions to the labor rights movement.
- Now, public officials are trying to remove his name from everything.
Why it matters: Chávez, who died in 1993, has long stood as a central symbol of Mexican American identity and labor activism.
- His legacy is being reassessed after recent allegations from Dolores Huerta and others that he sexually abused women and girls as young as 12.
The latest: The state of Texas has said it will no longer celebrate César Chávez Day, a federal holiday since 2014, or teach students about Chávez in public schools.
- The city of Fort Worth removed street sign toppers with his name off Northeast 28th Street and voted unanimously yesterday to rescind his honorary designation on a stretch of State Highway 183.
- The city of Dallas has a similar request to rename a boulevard named after Chávez that stretches almost two miles near the Dallas Farmers Market. The city named the road after him in 2010.
Reality check: Severing ties will take time because so many places bear Chávez's name.
- Dallas, Fort Worth and Little Elm have elementary schools named after him.
What they're saying: "Honorary street names are not merely symbolic gestures. They are public endorsements of character, conduct and legacy," Fort Worth City Council Member Carlos Flores said at yesterday's council meeting.
Zoom out: Historians say this moment could broaden public understanding of the farmworker movement beyond a single figure.
- "The farmworker movement always was, and remains, much more than Chávez," Columbia University history professor Lori Flores tells Axios.
2. 🏡 What Dallas-Fort Worth homeowners do for a living


Business and tech professionals are most likely to own a home in Dallas-Fort Worth, but their rate of ownership has dropped in a decade, according to a real estate analysis shared exclusively with Axios.
The big picture: The occupations with the highest homeownership rates in North Texas mirror national trends, per the National Association of Realtors analysis of census data.
Zoom in: Homeownership rates have grown for service workers, health care workers and real estate employees in D-FW, but rates have declined for other jobs.
- The percentage of public safety and transportation employees who owned homes dropped from 53% to 50% from 2014 to 2024.
- In 2024, 64% of local STEM professionals owned a home, down five percentage points in a decade.
Zoom out: Nationwide, the overall homeownership rate is about 65%.
The intrigue: Nationally, service workers have the lowest homeownership rate but saw the highest jump since 2014, rising from 43% to 46%.
- D-FW has a higher homeownership rate for service workers than other major metros. For example, 45% of service workers in San Francisco own a home, compared to 51% in the Dallas area.
Reality check: Homeownership varies widely on local housing affordability and job mix.
- "It's not just about jobs. It's really about where those jobs are located, and how affordable housing is in those markets," NAR principal economist Nadia Evangelou tells Axios.
The bottom line: "There are not enough homes at the price point people can afford to buy, and that's pushing even strong earners out of homeownership," Evangelou says.
3. 🍽️ We have two James Beard finalists
Dallas-Fort Worth has two finalists this year for a James Beard Award, considered the Oscars for restaurants.
Why it matters: No North Texas restaurant or chef has won one of the coveted dining awards in years.
Who's who: Maggie Huff is a finalist for the national outstanding pastry chef or baker award for her work at Lucia, a Michelin Bib Gourmand recipient.
- Denton chef Scott Girling at Osteria Il Muro is a finalist for best chef in Texas, a regional category.
The intrigue: Fort Worth didn't have any semifinalists.
What's next: The winners will be recognized at a June 15 ceremony in Chicago.
4. 🗞 Burnt ends: Bite-sized news bits
🏒 The Dallas Stars have extended general manager Jim Nill's contract by two years ahead of the team's fifth consecutive playoff appearance. (Associated Press)
⚖️ Gateway Church founder Robert Morris was released from an Oklahoma jail after serving six months for felony child sex abuse charges. (WFAA)
🤠 Kendra Scott plans to open a $1.4 million Yellow Rose boutique in the Fort Worth Stockyards. (Star-Telegram)
🏀 Quote du jour:
"I don't regret selling. I regret who I sold to. I made a lot of mistakes in the process, and I'll leave it at that."— Mark Cuban, on selling the Dallas Mavericks to Las Vegas' Adelson family. (DMN)
5. 💙 Pick your pics
Bluebonnets are beautiful and, right now, they seem to be everywhere.
Fun fact: Bluebunnets can come in several other colors, such as light blue, white or pink.
Pro tip: The blooms only last a few weeks, so get this year's photos while you can.
How to not be a fool: Technically, it's not illegal to pick bluebonnets, but for the love of Lady Bird Johnson, leave the flower alone.
📭 Have a bluebonnet photo or memory to share with us? Hit reply and send it to us.
This newsletter was edited by Astrid Galván.
Our picks:
🚫 Tasha trusts no one.
👀 Naheed is listening to Mark Cuban on the Intersections podcast.
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