By Justin David Tate Colorado made history last month when it opened the nation’s first legal recreational marijuana shops. No prescription is necessary. A potential consumer just needs an I.D. that says he or she is over age 21. Washington is set to follow Colorado’s lead in June. Oregon,...

By Karina Dunn The Office of Student Engagement and Retention, a new office at Eastfield, helps students complete their course work, graduate and transfer to a four-year university. In January, Courtney Carter-Harbour was appointed the new executive dean of OSER. She previously served as associate...

By Kevin Cushingberry Jr., Editor in Chief Kathy Bayne is a lifelong learner. She’s learned about the basics: science, math, English and history. And she’s learned the difficult stuff: biology, psychology, even auto tech. But Kathy isn’t a student, she’s an interpreter. In the process...

By Gereneicia Foster, Staff Writer “Sounds good my man, seeya soon, ill tw...” was the last text 22-year-old University of Northern Colorado student Alexander Heit wrote on April 3 before he drifted into oncoming traffic and rolled his car over, killing him. “I can’t discuss this now....

By María Yolisma García, Staff Writer A new wave of social media has hit the DCCCD. myPortal, a website intended to be a “single login site” for various district websites including eCampus and eConnect, was launched earlier this fall and is still in its introductory stage. It will serve...

By Justin David Tate, Life & Arts Editor Student protests at colleges across the state, including Eastfield, led to the disintegration of an event known as the “Catch an Illegal Immigrant Game” at the University of Texas at Austin. On Nov. 18, a group called the Young Conservatives of Texas...

By Justin David Tate, Life & Arts Editor Dr. Joe May, chancellor of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, is expected to succeed retiring DCCCD Chancellor Dr. Wright Lassiter next semester. The official Board of Trustees vote to hire May took place on Tuesday after press time....

  (Dallas) — The Dallas County Community College District’s board of trustees unanimously approved the selection of DCCCD’s next chancellor, Dr. Joe May,  during its regular monthly meeting today. May’s three-year contract specifies his annual salary – which is $300,000 – and solidifies...

By Karina Dunn, Staff Writer When he was 10 months old, Will Crawford was splashing around in his bath when he suddenly stopped, looked up at his mother and signed the word “done.” Dee Crawford, an employee in the college’s Business Office, was shocked. Soon, she discovered that her son was learning...

By Justin David Tate, Life & Arts Editor Laura Jarnagin has waited almost two hours on a crowded downtown Dallas sidewalk for this moment. Finally, she sees the police escorts heading her way. She jumps into the air, screaming at the top of her lungs. “The president is coming! He’s coming!...

By Maria Yolisma Garcia, Staff Writer Travis E. Sales has helped the city of Mesquite plant 30,000 trees and remove approximately 288 tons of pollution through the Urban Forestry Program. Those numbers seemed to surprise some students at Eastfield’s third annual Arbor Day celebration on Nov....

By Emma Hahn, Staff Writer While munching on cookies and chips, students were able to skip a lecture period to watch a documentary and participate in a panel discussion about gender equality on Oct. 21. The documentary, “Miss Representation,” flashed images and YouTube clips of scantily clad...

By Liritze Pedroza-Ortiz, Staff Writer The college’s Honors Program is continuing to expand thanks to a new articulation agreement with the University of North Texas and the addition of new classes. The nearly one-year-old program, led by psychology professors Kimberly Chandler and Marti Weaver,...

By Justin David Tate, Life & Arts Editor Students wait impatiently in line at the college Subway during the afternoon lunch rush. A middle-aged male calmly puts a cigarette to his lips, inhales and holds. A string of vapor escapes from his nostrils. None of the other students in line are choking,...

By María Yolisma García, Staff Writer During a Latino leadership panel discussion meant to encourage success, former attorney Roy Dean opened up about failure. “I failed first grade, how pathetic is that?” Dean said. A long pause filled the room. Dean’s early failure was due to a language...

BY KRISTEN DIXON, REPORTER Pouring rain, cold winds and small spaces didn’t stop hundreds of local residents from attending the fourth annual Harvest Fest Health Fair on the Pleasant Grove campus. Organizers estimate that between 600 and 800 people, ranging from small children to senior citizens,...

BY JUSTIN DAVID TATE: LIFE & ARTS EDITOR Ken Balvin keeps returning to the same stretch of road on Greenville Avenue.He looks for potholes. He picks up rocks. He inspects every crack of the road over and over again, because in three days, the Eastfield scuba instructor is going to carry the Olympic...

BY JUSTIN DAVID TATE, LIFE & ARTS EDITOR Writer Chitra Divakaruni was about to get the brainstorm of a lifetime in the form of a real storm: Hurricane Rita. As Divakaruni and her family raced toward  Interstate 10 to escape Houston, fear engulfed her. “[Hurricane] Katrina had devastated...

BY KEVIN CUSHINGBERRY JR., EDITOR IN CHIEF As the clock struck midnight on Oct. 1, with the House Republicans and Senate Democrats still unable to come to an agreement on the fiscal budget, the government shut down. Only those federal workers whose jobs are necessary to protect against an imminent...

BY KEVIN CUSHINGBERRY JR., EDITOR IN CHIEF Ana Chavez has won every election she’s been a part of since coming to Eastfield. She has held two terms as secretary and is now president of the Student Government Association. She’s a STEM scholar. She’s in Phi Theta Kappa, LULAC, Rotarac and CAB....

BY JUSTIN DAVID TATE, LIFE & ARTS EDITOR A music memorabilia exhibit entitled “The Legends of Rock & Roll” is expected to arrive in the library Oct. 10 and remain until Dec. 12. The exhibit will to include the guitar Carlos Santana used to play his chart-topper, “Smooth” in 1999...

By Karina Dunn Working with a student in his microscopy lab recently, Murry Gans expected to simply analyze a flower. To his surprise, he found a thrip at its center. The winged, half-millimeter insect would have gone unnoticed without the aid of the college’s powerful microscope. Simple discoveries...