Arrested Burglary Suspect Steals Police Car

Mark Schnyder, NBC 5 News

White Settlement police are searching for Darren Douglas Porter, police say he was caught on dashcam stealing a police car while still in handcuffs.

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White Settlement police say a man suspected of burglarizing an antique store escaped the back of a police cruiser and stole it.

Police said they caught 41-year-old Darren Douglas Porter burglarizing the shop in the 800 block of South Cherry Lane at about 7:20 a.m. Friday.

Officers detained Porter and cuffed him. They placed him in the back of the police car, shut the door and stepped away to talk to the store owner.

But Porter somehow got his cuffed hands in front of him and rolled down the window -- even though the back windows are not supposed to roll down.

"Unknown to us the back windows were still active so the suspect was able to hit the back window release to roll down the window and reach around and unlock the door from the outside," Lt. J.P. Bevering said. "We believe they came from the dealership with those disconnected, but they were not."

Police said Porter tiptoed to the driver's seat, got in and took off. White Settlement police received two 911 calls about a police car that was driving erratically.

He abandoned the police car at an apartment complex off Shenandoah Road and Calmont Avenue in West Fort Worth.

Police said their chances of finding Porter are "very good."

"We know who he is. We've dealt with him previously," Bevering said. "We know his associates, so now we're in the process of contacting them and keeping an eye out for him."

Porter will face additional charges of felony theft and escape in addition to charges related to the burglary.

Bevering said the police department would check its nine other patrol cars to make sure the windows can't be rolled down. It had never happened before, he said.

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Gay Marriage: How the High Court Might Rule

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The U.S. Supreme Court made a historic decision when it chose Friday to address same-sex marriage, but the potential outcomes aren't as simple as deciding whether such unions are legal.

The high court could use California's Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act to issue broad decisions that would make it unconstitutional to block same-sex marriages or deny federal benefits to gay spouses. The court could also do the opposite and say such bans are not unlawful, and deal a considerable blow to the gay rights movement.

But legal scholars say the more likely scenario is a set of narrow rulings that support gay marriage but stop short of the kind of grand rulings of the past that settled matters of racial and gender discrimination.

"I think they will likely take the approach that would bite off the least ground," said Geoffrey Stone, a University of Chicago law professor and Supreme Court expert.

The options in each case vary widely.

On Proposition 8, the court could either uphold or reject California voters' 2008 ban on same-sex marriages -- passed in response to a state Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage. But the court actually has four options, legal scholars say:

• It could issue a far-reaching decision that declares that the Constitution protects same-sex marriages, thus invalidating similar bans in dozens of states around the country and allowing gay marriages to take place anywhere, said David Cruz, a University of Southern California law professor who specializes in civil rights and equality issues. This would uphold the decision by a federal judge who struck down Prop. 8 under the Constitution's equal protection clause.
   
• The high court could rule that same-sex couples don't enjoy the same constitutional protections to marriage that opposite-sex couples do. That would keep Proposition 8 on the books, and essentially protect similar measures from being challenged elsewhere, Cruz said.
   
• The justices could also rule that it was wrong for California to strip rights that had already existed, strike it down on those grounds, and leave it at that -- mirroring the narrow decision of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
   
• It could also rule that the sponsors of Prop. 8 did not have proper legal standing to make its case. This would likely send the case backwards through the court system to the original trial court, Cruz said. The overturning of Prop. 8 would probably stand, but the decision wouldn't have any legal influence on cases outside of California.

Then there's the DOMA case, one of several challenges to the 1996 federal law that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. The legislation prohibits same-sex couples in states that have legalized gay marriage from an array of federal benefits, including tax deductions, Social Security survivor benefits and federal employee health insurance.

Several married gay people have challenged DOMA on grounds they were denied assistance they would have otherwise had access to if they were in a heterosexual union. Several of those cases reached the Supreme Court's doorstep this year, but the justices agreed on Friday to take just one, and put off announcements on the others.

Under President Obama, the Justice Department has stopped defending DOMA in court, and the Republican-led House of Representatives has taken up the fight.

The case before the high court involves 83-year-old Edith Windsor, a New York woman who married her longtime partner, Thea Spyer, in 2007 in Canada. Spyer died two years later, and left Windsor her entire estate. Because of DOMA, Windsor could not seek tax exemptions for the inheritance, leaving her with a $363,000 tax bill.

Again, the Supreme Court has a range of options. It could uphold DOMA as constitutional, which many legal scholars see as unlikely. Or the the justices could rule against DOMA and choose to apply one of several tiers of legal scrutiny, depending on how unfair it deems the ban on same-sex marriage. Which level of scrutiny they choose would influence the breadth of the ruling's impact, Cruz said.

The DOMA and Prop. 8 cases are expected to be argued in March and decided in June. As for the other DOMA challenges, they probably won't be denied, just delayed until after the court rules on these two cases, Cruz said.

American public opinion has shifted gradually toward a more lenient view of same-sex marriage in the years since DOMA, and since Proposition 8. On Election Day this year, voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington endorsed gay marriages, bringing to nine the number of states where they are legal (the District of Columbia also allows them).

In May, President Barack Obama said his feelings on the issue had evolved to the point that he was comfortable with same-sex marriage.

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Two Big Dallas Jewelry Holdups in Week

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Dallas police are investigating two big jewelry holdups in hotel parking lots in broad daylight.

The latest armed robbery happened at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Hilton Anatole on Stemmons Freeway at Market Center. The thieves took $700,000 in gems, a computer and a cellphone from the victim, who worked for German company Wild & Petsch GmbH, according to a police report.

According to its website, the firm cuts and finishes fine gemstones for jewelers and goldsmiths.

The first robbery occurred at about 8 a.m. on Nov. 28 at the Hampton Inn on Composite Drive, just off the Stemmons Freeway at Walnut Hill Lane. Thieves stole about $55,000 in jewelry mountings, along with various personal items from the victim, who is from Hong Kong.

The Anatole is directly across the Stemmons Freeway from the Dallas Market Center.

DMC spokeswoman Margaret Hite said the center includes international jewelry wholesalers but that security determined that the Anatole victim was not a DMC visitor.

Danny Defenbaugh, a retired Dallas FBI special agent in charge, said the FBI typically participates in investigations that involve international or interstate commerce, at least by sharing intelligence information with local police.

Defenbaugh said large jewelry robberies often involve out-of-town thieves who have information about the victim.

"Particularly, there's gangs from South America who actually pick out and target the individual and will follow them a great distance until they see their opportunity, actually the higher percentage of which is in parking lots," he said.

Defenbaugh now works as a private investigator but also provide security advice to companies that deal in international commerce.

"There's certain things you can do to make someone look at you and realize, 'Here's an easy target," he said.

It is not clear if both of the Dallas robberies are related, but Defenbaugh said international jewel thieves may chose to travel when they know more than one target will be in a location.

"Many times, you're going to have a certain type of gang activity -- again, where their intelligence is almost as good as law enforcement's -- many times to where they're going to realize certain shipments are going to be coming in at a certain time. Then they're going to be aware of what to look for in a target," he said.

Dallas police declined comment on the cases Thursday.

Messages left at both hotels were not returned.

A telephone number listed online for a U.S. representative of the German gemstone company was disconnected.

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Man Killed in Officer-Involved Shooting

Omar Villafranca, NBC 5 News

A man who was walking with a shotgun in East Dallas was fatally shot by responding officers who feared for their lives, Dallas police said.

Dallas Police Fatally Shoot Armed Man

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Man With Gun Shot by Dallas Police

Dallas police said a man with a gun walking down Castlefield Drive Thursday afternoon didn't comply with orders to drop his weapon and instead raised the gun at officers, so they were forced to shoot the man.

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Dallas police officers fatally shot a man who was walking with a shotgun in East Dallas near Pleasant Grove on Thursday afternoon.

Police said a witness told responding officers that a man was walking in the 9500 block of Castlefield Drive with a weapon at about 3:40 p.m. Sgt. Warren Mitchell said the man was carrying a shotgun.

The officers saw Robert Williams, 37, and told him to drop the shotgun. The officers opened fire when the man continued to walk toward them while raising the weapon, police said.

Williams was taken to a Dallas hospital, where he later died.

No police officers were injured.

Roughly two dozen officers were in the area shortly after the shooting, and a home was cordoned off with police tape. Some clothes, including a jacket and shoes, were in the street.

Neighbors told NBC 5 that they heard gunshots and saw a man walking down the street with what appeared to be a long gun such as a rifle or shotgun.

NBC 5's Omar Villafranca contributed to this report.

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Sheriff: Error Led to Escape From Hospital

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Failure to Follow Procedures Led to Inmate Escape: Sheriff

Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez said Tuesday a failure to follow procedures led to an inmate's escape from Parkland Hospital.

Escapee Caught After Stealing Deputy's Gun

A capital murder suspect who stole a deputy's duty weapon and escaped from a Dallas hospital Tuesday night is back in custody.

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A failure to follow procedures led to the escape by a capital murder suspect who fled a Dallas hospital with a deputy's duty weapon, the county sheriff says.

Franklin B. Davis, 30, escaped from Parkland Hospital on Tuesday night, the Dallas County Sheriff's Office said. He was taken into custody later that night after a brief standoff.

On Wednesday, Sheriff Lupe Valdez said a failure to follow procedures, not an issue of manpower, let to Davis' escape.

"Standard procedure requires for all inmates to be escorted at all times while on medical visits to Parkland," she said. "Procedures were not totally followed; an error was made."

According to court records obtained by the Dallas Morning News, Davis asked his lone guard if he could take a shower. The guard then took off Davis' handcuffs and leg shackles.

Davis, who had been at Parkland since Saturday, then confronted the deputy with a sharp object and managed to wrestle away the deputy's gun after a two-minute struggle, the newspaper reported.

Valdez said it would not have mattered how many guards were watching Davis because policies were not followed.

The deputy was not injured but is struggling with what happened, she said.

Valdez said the heart of the problem is that prisoners must be taken to Parkland for treatment. There are about 4,200 transports between Lew Sterrett Justice Center and Parkland Hospital per year, she said.

She said a $40 million medical facility being built inside the jail should eliminate future incidents.

"It is incidents like this that confirm our need for a facility within the department," she said. "As you all know, we are working on that, and we are building a facility right here in the department so that we don't have to do the 20 to 25 visits back and forth per day."

Valdez said the incident is under investigation. The deputy is still at work.

Davis apprehended after brief standoff

Dallas police and Dallas County deputies searched the neighborhoods near the hospital for Davis and located him near Harry Hines Boulevard and Reagan Street.

Davis then barricaded himself inside a van in the parking lot of the old Telemundo building. Davis surrendered to police at about 10:45 p.m. after a standoff of a little longer than one hour.

No one was injured, and no shots were fired.

The standoff ended so quickly because police realized that Davis was not armed ,the sheriff's office said.

Authorities had recovered the gun, so officers went in to arrest him. Davis dropped the gun he took from the deputy at the hospital somewhere along Wycliff Avenue while fleeing.

Davis charged in slaying of 16-year-old high school student

He is charged in the September slaying of a 16-year-old Carrollton girl that he was accused of sexually assaulting.

Police said they believe Shania Gray was killed to prevent her from testifying against Davis, who was charged with four counts of sexual assault.

Carrollton police have said that Davis confessed to killing Gray.

According to an affidavit, Davis picked Gray up from school and drove her a trail head near Valley View Lane and Interstate 635, where he killed her. He told investigators that he posed as someone else and won the girl's trust with a fake social media profile and a prepaid phone.

NBC 5's Stefan Gorman, Ray Villeda and Scott Gordon contributed to this report.

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Burglary Victim to Neighbors: Keep Guns Close

Omar Villafranca, NBC 5 News

A Fort Worth burglary victim has put up signs on his home warning away thieves -- including a sign that tells neighbors about his recent break-in and reminds them to "keep your guns close by."

Fort Worth Man Warns Off Burglars

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A Fort Worth burglary victim has posted a neon green sign in his front lawn warning criminals he is armed and tired of break-ins.

Thieves broke into Amer Ozzie's home in the Riverside/Carter neighborhood on Friday and stole musical equipment, a TV, tablets and a video game console.

"Since I put the sign up, other neighbors have been coming up to me and saying, 'I've been robbed. I'm glad you're doing this,'" he said. "Other neighbors say they're going to put the signs up, too."

Ozzie, a Prince impersonator, said he is lucky that the thieves didn't steal any of his expansive Prince memorabilia or the two custom Prince guitars he uses for performances. But the bad guys took two amplifiers, forcing him to cancel a booking he had for this weekend, he said.

While NBC 5 was out shooting the story, two residents pulled over to say that they, too, had been burglarized. They didn't want to be identified, but one man said bank deposits for his small business were stolen from his car and a woman said tools were stolen out of her garage.

Ozzie, who grew up in the neighborhood, said he wants Fort Worth police to patrol the area during the day, when burglaries are happening.

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Escapee Who Stole Deputy's Gun in Custody

NBC 5 News

RAW VIDEO: A capital murder who stole a deputy's gun and escaped from Parkland Hospital surrendered to police after a standoff in a Dallas parking lot.

RAW VIDEO: Escapee Who Stole Deputy's Weapo...

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A capital murder suspect who stole a deputy's duty weapon and escaped from a Dallas hospital Tuesday night is back in custody.

Franklin B. Davis, 30, escaped during a Parkland Hospital visit, the Dallas County Sheriff's Office said.

The deputy was not injured.

Dallas police and Dallas County deputies searched the neighborhoods near the hospital for Davis and located him near Harry Hines Boulevard and Reagan Street.

Davis then barricaded himself inside a van in the parking lot of the old Telemundo building. Davis surrendered to police at about 10:45 p.m. after a standoff of a little longer than one hour.

No one was injured, and no shots were fired.

The standoff ended so quickly because police realized that Davis was not armed ,the sheriff's office said.

Davis dropped the gun he took from the deputy at the hospital somewhere along Wycliff Avenue while fleeing. Authorities recovered the gun and knew he wasn't armed, so officers went in to arrest him.

Davis had left Parkland in hospital-issued pants and was not wearing a shirt, the sheriff's office said.

He is charged in the September slaying of a 16-year-old Carrollton girl that he was accused of sexually assaulting.

Police said they believe Shania Gray was killed to prevent her from testifying against Davis, who was charged with four counts of sexual assault.

Carrollton police have said that Davis confessed to killing Gray.

According to an affidavit, Davis picked Gray up from school and drove her a trail head near Valley View Lane and Interstate 635, where he killed her. He told investigators that he posed as someone else and won the girl's trust with a fake social media profile and a prepaid phone.

NBC 5's Stefan Gorman contributed to this report.

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Body Recovered from White Rock Lake

The scene along the 8200-block of Garland Road.

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A body was recovered from White Rock Lake Tuesday.

Dallas Fire Rescue responded to the call after 2 p.m. after walkers spotted the body floating in the water not far from shore along the 8200-block of Garland Road.

Officials said the body was close enough to the shore that firefighters were able to walk down and secure the victim in a stokes basket.

The body has been described as a young black female. The person's identity or manner of death has not been released.

We have no other information at this time.

NBC 5 has crews on the way and we'll update this story with more information as soon as it's available.  As this story is developing, elements may change.

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Accusations of Bullying in 13-Year-Old's Death

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More than 100 angry parents and students demonstrated outside Furlough Middle School in Terrell on Monday over a death they blame on bullying.

Zusette Moreno died in the hospital Friday on her 13th birthday after telling relatives she was assaulted in a school restroom Tuesday.

"One of the girls backed up on her neck and pushed her back up into the wall, basically. And another girl kicked her in the stomach with her foot," said the girl's aunt, Lupita Primero.

Primero said the girl attended the school for about a month after moving to Terrell with her mother to be closer to other family members there.

The aunt said another bullying incident happened to Moreno with the same girls before Thanksgiving, but that Zusette did not want her mother to report it to the school.

"She said 'No, I can't handle that, Mom.' She said, 'I can't mention that,'" Primero said.

Some parents at the protest said their daughter were also bullied but that the school did not take action when they complained.

"My daughter was one," Carla McLenee said. "She's been bullied by these people, and I'm here to stand behind the parents that lost their little girl Friday morning."

"It needs to stop," Hope Beech said. "A parent shouldn't have to worry if their kids are going to be safe or not at school."

Terrell Independent School District police investigated the girl's death, and Superintendent Kelly Rodgers said preliminary autopsy results from the Dallas County Medical Examiner indicate that there was no assault on Moreno.

"Our police officers looked into every rumor allegation, and there's nothing indicating that anything traumatic happened to the student physically at the school," he said.

Rodgers said grief counselors have been at the school since Friday and will remain there as students and staff cope with the death.

"She was a very, very likable student -- well-liked by the staff and students here -- and that's the way we want to remember her," Rodgers said.

The superintendent said a separate investigation is under way about the accusations of past bullying against Moreno.

"I think our officers receive that complaint from the parent Saturday, and they're investigating bullying," Rodgers said.

The demonstrators are demanding answers and changes from the school.

"They need more guards at the bathrooms," McLenee said. "They need more teachers to hire. Funding doesn't allow it, so we lose our children because of it. It's not fair."

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Crews Fight Massive Apartment Fire in Irving

Scott Gordon, NBC 5 News

A fire has destroyed all 21 units of an apartment building at the Arbors of Las Colinas in Irving.

Fire Destroys Irving Apartment Building

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Firefighters battled a large fire at an apartment complex off the President George Bush Turnpike in Irving.

The fire at the Arbors of Las Colinas in the 1000 block of San Jacinto Drive was reported at about 8:35 p.m. Crews had the blaze under control after 10 p.m.

According to initial information, the fire destroyed the building's 21 units, leaving 60 to 70 residents homeless.

Five people were injured by smoke inhalation, according to initial reports.

There were no reports of anyone trapped in the fire, the fire department said.

Crews from Dallas and Farmers Branch helped fight the fire.

The Salvation Army and the Red Cross are assisting the residents displaced by the fire.

NBC 5's Scott Gordon contributed to this report.

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Dozens Of Dead Birds Discovered In Collin County

Randy McIlwain, NBC 5 News

NBC 5 viewer alerts us to dozens of birds killed at a busy Collin County interchange.

Dozens Of Dead Birds Discovered In...

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There's an eerie scene in McKinney. There are dozens of dead birds lining White Avenue and Central Expressway.

An NBC 5 viewer emailed pictures of the dead birds to isee@nbcdfw.com.

We contacted the Collin County Game Wardens Office. A member came out and looked at that bird. While it was bleeding from it's mouth it had not been shot and appeared to die only recently.

By our count there are close to 50 dead birds, mostly Grackles, Starlings and Pigeons.

While this is a heavily traveled area, no one seems to know how or why the birds are dying.

The Collin County Game Warden's office visited had not received any calls about the birds prior to NBC 5 contacting them this afternoon.

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December 2nd Heat Sets Record

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We are really feeling the December heat wave!  We started the month with temperatures well above average in the 80s. 

In fact, on Saturday, we tied our record high of 83 degrees at DFW International Airport.  The previous record of 83 was set in 1950.  It was even mild late at night, with temperatures only dipping into the 60s overnight.

Sunday turned out to be another record-setting day across North Texas.  We set a new record high at DFW International Airport when the temperature reached 83 degrees Sunday afternoon.  The previous record high for Sunday was 81 set back in 2007 and 1995.  We also set a new record high minimum temperature Sunday of 67.  The previous record was 63 back in 1922 and 1993. 

A cold front will arrive by Tuesday to bring us slightly cooler air.  But at this time, a big outbreak of very chilly air is not expected at least over the next seven days.

These very warm temperatures are far from average for North Texas this time of the year.  Normally, we would have afternoon highs near 60 and overnight lows near 40.  That means that temperatures are running over 20 degrees above average.  Temperatures are expected to stay above average for at least the next seven days. 

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Second-Graders Charged for Bathroom Breaks

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The mother of a 7-year-old Irving elementary school student says her son wet his pants in class after his teacher refused to let him use the restroom Thursday afternoon.

"I was absolutely appalled," Sonja Cross said. "I could not believe it."

The first-year teacher at J.O. Davis Elementary awards her students with "Boyd Bucks" for good behavior. Going to the bathroom outside of the three scheduled breaks costs two Boyd Bucks per trip.

Cross' son, an honor roll student, needed to go to the bathroom, but he sat back down because he didn't have any Boyd Bucks, his mother said.

"He tried to hold it as much as he could, but he just couldn't," Cross said. "He came home from school, and he was crying and really upset."

"Really, that's just unhealthy," Cross said. "I think that she had no concern for the children."

Cross complained to the teacher, but didn't like the response.

"Originally when I first spoke with the teacher, she was just going to show my son special treatment, but then I said, 'That's just not good enough. I need for you to stop this for all the children,'" she said.

Cross informed school administrators, who quickly told the teacher to stop charging her students to go to the bathroom.

"It's not a bad idea to have a reward program in the class -- and they're going to continue that, but not for the bathroom breaks," Irving school district spokesman Billy Rudolph said.

But Cross said her son still has to face his classmates.

"The kids are teasing him and whatnot, and it's just over for him," she said. "This is something he's going to have to deal with for quite some time."

School administrators do not plan any disciplinary action. Cross said she may push for the teacher to be suspended.

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Perot Museum Hopes To Educate, Fill A Need

Mark Schnyder, NBC 5 News

Dallas' Perot Museum opens to oohs and ahhs Saturday.

Perot Museum Hopes To Educate, Fill A Need

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Perot Museum Set to Open Saturday

The Perot Museum is set to open on Saturday but NBC 5 got a sneak peak on Friday of what you can expect when you visit.

Perot Museum of Nature and Science Readies for Opening Day

Dallas's newest museum, The Perot Museum of Nature and Science, is just days away from opening its doors.

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The Perot Museum of Nature and Science is a spectacle inside and out, yet there were more jaw-dropping sights to be seen outside the museum Saturday as two acrobats danced to music while rappelling down the side of the museum. 

Minutes later, the museum opened and hundreds of people went in to explore Dallas' latest wonder.

"It's big," said Qwun Davis, referring to the building and not the dinosaur bones he's surrounded by in one exhibit.  "I like the outside.  I don't really know how it (the building) stands up because it's all placed weird.  It's cool."

On all five floors, and in all 11 permanent exhibit halls, there's something to engage or challenge the mind and boddy.

"I just think they're going to learn so much," said Ann Hardaway moments after watching her 7-year old daughter Charlotte play meteorologist in front of a map, camera and teleprompter.  "I think they've (the museum) done a really good job putting all the information together.  They've touched on all the things kids can understand layman-wise."

"It's spectacular and it's engaging, " said Walt Davis, who's touring the museum with his wife and grandsons.  "It draws you in and you do things and you learn things as you go along.

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science is all about inspriring young people to want to learn about science and it's what Ross Perot said needs to happen.

"In our country, we don't have near enough scientists and engineers," Perot told NBC 5 shortly before the museum opened.  "80 percent of our PhDs at all of our elite engineering schools like Cal Tech and MIT come from two countries, China and India. Is that amazing?  We've got to create those engineers right here."

Organizers hope the museum is unlike any other and amazes all who enter.

"It's more than we ever expected," said former teacher, and Ross Perot's wife, Margot Perot.  "It's going to mean a lot to people of all ages so I hope people come again and again."

The five adult Perot children made a $50 million gift to get the museum named in Margot and Ross Perot's honor.

For more on the museum and to order tickets on line visit perotmuseum.org.
 

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