A Dallas firefighter was hurt while responding to an accident on Northbound U.S. 75 Ne
No injuries were reported after a DART train hit a car that appeared to be abandoned o...
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Christine Lee, NBC 5 Irving Reporter
Former students are coming together for Irving MacArthur High School journalism teacher Johnny Heard who is in hospice care battling COPD.
Former Students Come Together for Teacher
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MacArthur High School alumni are rallying around a former teacher struggling with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Johnny Heard, who taught journalism at the Irving high school in the 1970s and 1980s, is in hospice care.
His former students are rallying around him and planning a big birthday bash for this weekend.
Former student Mark Ridlen launched a Facebook page in October, Heard's Herd, to keep his high school friends updated on their former teacher's health. More than 200 joined, almost overnight, he said.
Ridlen was Heard's student for three years in the '70s.
"He was more to me the eccentric and intellectual uncle I never had," he said.
"He was by far the best of any journalism class I ever had in any college," said Cindy Coleman, who learned about Heard's health through Ridlen.
Since hearing the news, Coleman, who lives in Grapevine, regularly goes to the hospice location in Hurst.
"A lot of times, he feels like he doesn't have a family and I keep telling him, 'That's not true. You do. All your friends are your family,'" she said.
Ridlen is organizing a birthday party for Heard on Sunday. He said he hopes his former teacher can be healthy enough a bit longer to enjoy his special day one more time.
"With him these days, it's just hour-to-hour and day-to-day," he said. "I went out there and visited him a few days before Christmas, and I dressed up as Santa Clause and had some people come out, and I don't even know if he remembers that because he's kind of in and out."
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Randy McIlwain, NBC 5 News
Police and taxi services say there should be no excuse for drinking and driving on New Year's Eve.
No Excuse for Drinking and Driving on...
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Bartenders Against Drunk Driving
Bartenders Against Drunk Driving will be wearing t-shirts to remind patrons to have a plan to get home safe after partying on New Year's Eve.
A New Year's Eve program intended to keep you from getting behind the wheel is starting behind the bar.
Carol Wooden and her husband began a local chapter of Bartenders Against Drunk Driving in 2010 after setting up their JC Bartending Academy in Plano.
"We're OK with drinking," she said. "We're OK with having fun. It's just making sure that people are responsible and the afterthought of ensuring they have the safe ride home is not an afterthought."
This year, the Woodens have handed out T-shirts to bartenders at 20 bars and restaurants in North Dallas and Collin County. The New Year's Eve shirts have 1-800-TAXI-CAB printed on the back as a subtle reminder to patrons about how to get home safely.
"As the bartender turns around to make the drink, it might just trigger in their mind, 'Hey, I need to make sure I have a ride home," Wooden said.
BADD has also passed out hundreds of "safe cards" that also bear the number for the taxi conglomerate, a partnership between dispatches that sends out the closest taxicab so callers aren't kept waiting.
Plano police are also using an attention-grabbing technique this season.
The weekend before New Year's, the department rolled out a Choose Your Ride campaign, featuring a Plano police cruiser wrapped in taxicab yellow on its back half.
"We want to grab people's attention," Plano police spokesman Officer David Tilley. "Maybe [if] they've had a little too much to drink, they'll see this and it will be a reminder."
The Choose Your Ride car will likely be posted around The Shops at Legacy in Plano for New Year's Eve.
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Tammy Mutasa, NBC 5 Garland Reporter
Garland firefighters are working around the clock to raise money for fellow firefighter Devon Colbert, he's paralyzed in an accident a week before Christmas.
Garland Firefighters Help One of Their Own
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Garland firefighters are working around the clock to raise money for one of their own who was injured in a car crash that may have left him paralyzed for life.
Devon Colbert, 28, may not walk again after a car crashed into his vehicle on Dec. 17 in Rockwall. His 2-year-old son was also strapped into the car but was not hurt.
Emily Colbert watched her husband follow his lifelong passion to become a firefighter, only to have the unexpected setback thrown in their path.
"It breaks my heart," she said. "It breaks my heart, because I know how hard he worked to get where he is. I know how hard we've worked as a family to get where he is."
The Garland Fire Department has been working to raise money for her and their two young boys, covering shifts and making 24-hour visiting rounds at the Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation.
"If it wasn't for our faith, we would be on the ground," Emily Colbert said. "If it wasn't for our extended fire family and family coming and picking us up, I don't know how we would be making it."
"He would do the same for me in a heartbeat," said Ross Dyer, who filled in for Colbert on his New Year's Eve shift. "He would do the same for anybody in this department."
Devon Colbert has been working at the Garland Fire Station No. 7 for the past year, but it took him nearly seven years just to get a job in the department. Before, he was a volunteer with the Rockwall Fire Department.
"He is so thankful to have this job," firefighter Jerry Click said. "He gets here almost two hours early before his shift starts, and he's the last one to leave. He works nonstop."
Emily and Devon Colbert are holding onto their hope that one day he'll be back where he always wanted to be.
"He will walk again," Emily Colbert said. "I have to believe that; that's what I'm holding onto in my heart."
More: Devon Colbert Fund Donations
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There are happier ways to start a new year than finding out you're unemployed, but the NFL schedule makes no concessions for the regular calender.
The regular season ended on Sunday, which means that NFL teams spent Monday firing underperforming coaches and general managers. They call the day Black Monday and, given the fact that it is New Year's Eve, this one is a little bit blacker than most.
We'll run through all the major changes here so that you can be sure to know which teams have decided to move in a different direction. We'll do it alphabetically, which means we start out in the desert.
Arizona Cardinals: Ken Whisenhunt is the most successful coach the Cardinals have ever known, but that wasn't enough to save him after a season that saw the team start four different quarterbacks who were all guilty of being nowhere near good enough to be starters in the NFL. General manager Rod Graves also got the axe as as a result of being the man who handed Whisenhunt those quarterbacks in the first place.
Buffalo Bills: The Bills gave Chan Gailey his walking papers after a third straight season of double digit losses, a move that's been met with happiness from Bills fans tired of watching Gailey muck around with an offense that needed a lot more C.J. Spiller. Surprisingly, general manager Buddy Nix did not get fired on Monday despite giving Ryan Fitzpatrick one of the worst contract extensions in recent memory.
Chicago Bears: Lovie Smith is done after nine years as the Bears' head coach, a move that seemed inevitable after they missed the playoffs for the fifth time in the last six seasons. Bears players have not reacted well to the move, blaming it on "false fans" and the media instead of their own underachieving.
Cleveland Browns: The writing was on the wall when the team was sold to Jimmy Haslam earlier this year and it came to pass on Sunday. Coach Pat Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert are looking for new jobs, continuing the disappointing saga that is the Browns franchise since their re-entry to the league in 1999.
Jacksonville Jaguars: General manager Gene Smith was axed after years of diminishing returns, including a bust of a first-round pick in quarterback Blaine Gabbert. Head coach Mike Mularkey hasn't been fired, but could get snipped once they have a new G.M.
Kansas City Chiefs: General manager Scott Pioli somehow survived a 2-14 season while coach Romeo Crennel was told not to bother coming in for the rest of his life. Crennel is one of the best defensive coaches in the game, but he's now failed miserably twice as a head coach.
New York Jets: Rex Ryan survives to bloviate again while general manager Mike Tannenbaum couldn't do the same after a litany of failures that could be boiled down to a three-way quarterback battle between Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow and Greg McElroy. Whoever gets the job next would be advised to try finding one guy who doesn't stink.
Philadelphia Eagles: Andy Reid's 14-year run as the leader of the Eagles ended as expected on Monday. Reid had a terrific run as the team's coach, something that might get lost in the wake of his miserable final year on the job.
San Diego Chargers: When the season started, it seemed clear that a losing year for the Chargers would cost coach Norv Turner and G.M. A.J. Smith their jobs. The Chargers had a losing year and both guys are now looking for work.
Josh Alper is also a writer for Pro Football Talk. You can follow him on Twitter.
NBC 5 News
A Dallas firefighter was taken to the hospital with minor injuries after a car crashed into a parked ladder truck working an accident on Central Expressway early New Year's Day morning.
Dallas Firefighter Injured in Crash
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A Dallas firefighter was hurt while responding to an accident on Northbound U.S. 75 New Year's Day morning. Crews tell NBC5 that firefighter was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
Dallas Fire-Rescue said they had been called out to a crash on U.S. 75 and had parked the ladder truck in a blocking position for safety. A driver of a pickup truck smashed into the side of the fire truck.
One person from the original wreck also had to be taken to the hospital.
Police shutdown U.S. 75 northbound for several hours causing major traffic backup and frustrating many New Years Eve revelers trying to head home.
As crews had been working on the wrecks on U.S. 75, another 3-car crash happened on the frontage road at Forest Lane. Hazmat crews had to clean up some fuel spilled in that wreck.
One lane of traffic could get by the crash involving the fire truck, but drivers had to exit at Coit Road.
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NBC 5 News
No injuries were reported after a DART train hit a car on the tracks near the Villa Creek crossing between the Farmers Branch and Royal Lane stations early Monday morning.
DART Train Hits Car on Tracks
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No injuries were reported after a DART train hit a car that appeared to be abandoned on the tracks in the 12800 block of Denton Drive in Farmers Branch Monday morning.
It happened at around 4:30 a.m. Monday near the Villa Creek crossing between the Farmers Branch and Royal Lane stations.
Green Line customers north of downtown Dallas will be delayed due because of the accident.
DART buses are shuttling customers between Royal Lane and the North Carrollton/Frankford stations.
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Andres Gutierrez, NBC 5 News
The Oklahoma State Cowboys take on the Purdue Boilermakers in the New Year's Day bowl game at the Cotton Bowl, the game has a new sponsor, and the Heart of Dallas Bowl gives back to the community.
Oklahoma State Takes on Purdue in Heart of...
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Oklahoma State and Purdue play in the inaugural Heart of Dallas Bowl on Tuesday. It will be the third consecutive New Year's Day game played in the historic Cotton Bowl Stadium since the namesake game moved to Cowboys Stadium.
The 2013 game features a new title sponsor, the Heart of Dallas, a new non-profit organization that works with Dallas charities.
"We're not only getting the chance to tell the city of Dallas about what we're doing here in the community but we get to tell the whole country and the world that Dallas has a heart," said Heart Dallas board member Kern Egan. "We're about our people and we're about giving back and that's what we're going to use this game for."
The proceeds from Tuesday's game will benefit charities working to end homelessness in Dallas including the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance.
"A lot of bowl games, don't get this opportunity to help others and it's a great thing that we're helping," said Oklahoma State lineman Lane Taylor.
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