Anita Burgess

The Denton City Council voted Tuesday to hire Lubbock’s longtime city attorney to lead Denton’s legal department. Anita Burgess is expected to start as Denton’s city attorney Oct. 6. She will replace former City Attorney Ed Snyder, who resigned June 30 to pursue a new career as a high school teacher and football coach.

DRC/Al Key

Tomasa Garcia, shown in front of artwork in her home near Sanger, has founded businesses and a monthly publication and helped found the Denton Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

She still laughs when she thinks of the West Texas town where she grew up. “It is called Tornillo [tor-NEE-yo],” said Tomasa Garcia, sitting in her office on Dallas Drive. “It means ‘screw’ in Spanish, like the screw from the screwdriver,” she said.

Mark Burroughs

Denton Mayor Mark Burroughs says he still wants to begin talks about changing City Council term limits, even though there may not be time to get the issue on the Nov. 4 ballot. The council will meet Tuesday afternoon to discuss Burroughs’ plan to do away with the existing limit of three consecutive two-year terms. In its place, Burroughs is proposing a change to two four-year terms, or even three three-year terms, to allow for more continuity of service and reduce the recurrence of elections.

DRC/Gary Payne

The lot bordered by Fry, Oak, Welch and Hickory streets sits vacant. Development of Fry Street Village was halted when the city of Denton denied plans for a drive-through.

Dirt and weeds fill a fenced-off vacant lot on Fry Street, once considered the premier hangout for Denton college students. Several tattered signs promising development still stand on the block bordered by Fry, Oak, Welch and Hickory streets after plans stalled in December of last year — the aftermath of a contentious fight between activists, residents, politicians and an out-of-town developer.

William Lee Mitchell III

A Denton bail bondsman is back in Denton County Jail after walking out of a court-ordered drug rehabilitation facility and walking into the jail lobby Thursday to demand that his seized property be returned. William Lee “Mitch” Mitchell III, 38, is being held without bail after Judge Bruce McFarling signed an order Thursday declaring his bond insufficient because he violated the terms.

DRC/Gary Payne

Tim Hogan of Hogan's Longhorn Woodcarving unloads a sculpture of a longhorn's head at the North Texas State Fair and Rodeo in Denton on Thursday.

Before people can enjoy a rocking and roping good time at this year’s North Texas State Fair and Rodeo, most attendees will spend time finding a place to park. That’s where Danny Brumley and his crew come in handy. While livestock handlers ready their animals, bounce houses are aired up and food is cooked, Brumley, the parking coordinator, will work to provide as much parking as he can for the duration of the fair.

Reid Ferring

What started out as an optimistic voyage ended Monday in uncertainty as a trip to the Eurasian country of Georgia crumbled in chaos. Returning to the country where he’s spent summers for the last 15 years, Reid Ferring, a University of North Texas geography professor, felt a sense of happiness, he said. For yet another year he would return to his work of recovering human fossils dating back 1.8 million years while also seeing the faces of old comrades, attending a friend’s wedding and spending time with a young Georgian girl for whom he was named godfather one year ago.

DRC/Al Key

Amber States scours the school supplies at Target for her daughter Gabby, 5, and her friend Nicholas Hearn, 5, on Tuesday at the Super Target at Loop 288 and Brinker Road.

For 72 hours beginning Friday, shoppers across Texas will receive a reprieve from paying sales taxes on certain items during the state’s annual tax-free weekend. Most clothing and footwear priced under $100 is exempt from sales tax during the three-day period, so residents will save about $8 for every $100 they spend.

 Back To School (.pdf)