SHORT STORY 1: Union busting at Fort Worth Report

Fort Worth Reporter's Guild response to union busting

SHORT STORY 2: PACs funding Republican precinct chairs

Newly formed Tarrant shadow PACs turbocharge hyperlocal GOP precinct chair races

SHORT STORY 3: Prairieland Defendant updates

• Alvarado ICE facility ambush trial: Jurors view evidence, deputy body camera footage
• Surveillance video and cell phone evidence, day three of ICE Prairieland shooting trial continues

WINS:

Arts Forward

Long-awaited Palo Pinto Mountains State Park opens

Panther Island gets taxing district to pay for improvements, services

Construction for $63M Historic Southside urban village could start in summer

North Texas Community Foundation Awards $250K to Historic North Side Main Street Pilot

FWISD votes no to school prayer period

Black Women Lawyers Association honors Mary Ellen Hicks

Mosier Valley Park transformation will commemorate one of Texas’ first all-Black communities

LOSSES:

Oversight of Tarrant County purchasing questioned as lead role shifts

Digital checkouts at Fort Worth Public Library exceed those of physical materials for first time

ACTIONS:

Tarrant County seeks 200 more election clerks to staff March 3 primary polls

TXDOT Master Plan Survey

March 3 - Election day for Primaries

March 4 - 817 Gather at the Table

March 10 - Data center vote at Fort Worth City Council

March 15 - 817 Gather (Join us)

March 21 - FWAAMFEST (Get tickets)

Join the 817 Gather Discord, and follow us on Instagram & TikTok.

For our very first live episode, we recorded at the VIP party for Tarrant County Democratic Party's annual fundraiser, Beyond Darkness.

We spoke with Texas State Representatives Salman Bhojani & Ramon Romero Jr about harnessing the power of diverse communities to build a progressive future.

Join the 817 Gather Discord, and follow us on Instagram & TikTok.

BIG STORY: Nydia Cardenas, candidate for Tarrant County Commissioner Precinct 4.

SHORT STORY 1: Early Voting turnout

Tarrant County’s 2026 Primary: Democrats Are Showing Up

SHORT STORY 2: Resistance to ICE in North Texas

• No ICE Detention Center in Hutchins, TX
• UNT art students protest exhibit’s removal with a funeral for freedom of speech
• Man brandishes guns at Boswell High School students during ICE protest
• PrairielandDefendants.com
• Arlington man in ICE custody will return to Jordan after son’s death

SHORT STORY 3: Transit Progress

• DART's compromise gives money back to cities to avoid withdrawal elections
• Irving to consider calling off DART withdrawal election as transit agency weighs key changes
• Regional council votes to fund public transit as part of plan to save DART
• ‘Expand it, not abandon it’

WINS:

Progressive Texas organizers hail shock win as far-right Republicans left reeling

Taylor Rehmet sworn into Texas Senate District 9

7 Tarrant County districts reject daily prayer period in public schools under Texas law

FWISD students see gains

Panther Island bypass project moves forward after Trinity River dams, flood storage delays

LOSSES:

Hand-counted audit of Senate runoff election draws scrutiny ahead of Tarrant County primaries

Tarrant judge needs to learn that hearing public dissent is part of job

ACTIONS:

Now - Early Voting for Primaries (Polling locations & hours)

February 28 - Arts Forward summit (Get tickets)

March 3 - Election day for Primaries

March 4 - 817 Gather at the Table

March 10 - Data center vote at Fort Worth City Council

March 15 - 817 Gather

March 21 - FWAAMFEST (Get tickets)

Join the 817 Gather Discord, and follow us on Instagram & TikTok.