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Downtown Dallas church fire: The latest updates
Services on Sunday inside the church’s main sanctuary are TBD due to concerns with AC units and smoke damage.
DALLAS — Plumes of black smoke were seen rising through the Downtown Dallas skyline Friday evening.
Dallas Fire Rescue (DFR) responded to a fourth-alarm fire just after 6 p.m. at the First Baptist Dallas Church at 1707 San Jacinto St.
When firefighters arrived, they were met with heavy smoke and immediately started attacking the blaze. Officials said at least 100 firefighters were on scene for more than three hours.
DFR confirmed to WFAA that the “structure involved is the secondary chapel.” Chopper 8 captured the moment when the spire toppled over as crews battled the flames.
Vacation Bible School just concluded in the historic sanctuary on Thursday. It’s used for funerals, weddings, and auxiliary events that don’t require the main sanctuary.
Most firefighting operations began significantly shutting down between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Saturday morning, according to DFR. Overhaul companies were on scene throughout Friday night into Saturday morning to ensure safety and to continue extinguishing hot spots, DFR said.
Officials said no one was injured in the fire.
DFR believes the blaze started in the basement. Deacons told WFAA they fear the church’s library, beneath the historic sanctuary, has been lost. It held a majority of the church’s records, they said.
Pastor Robert Jeffress, who was elected pastor of First Baptist Dallas in August of 2007, spoke downtown as firefighters continued to fight the fire, and said he had been baptized and ordained as a minister in that very church.
“I had just left the church a little bit after 6 p.m. when we got word that the church was on fire, our historic sanctuary,” Jeffress said, emotional.
Jeffress grew up at First Baptist Dallas. He was baptized in the Historic Sanctuary at age 9, ordained there when he was 21, and holds many memories of the church.
The building has been around since 1890, Jeffress said and was the home of the church before they moved into a new center about 12 years ago.
“We had just concluded vacation bible school with over 2,000 kids,” Jeffress said. “They were all gone. God has protected us through all of this.”
Jeffress said they don’t know the cause of the fire at this time.
“I’m grateful that the church is not bricks and mortar or wood, it’s people,” he said. “And the people of God will endure. First Baptist Dallas will endure.”
Moments before speaking with Jeffress, WFAA’s cameras captured the reaction to parts of the building collapsing:
Services on Sunday inside the church’s main sanctuary are TBD due to concerns with AC units and smoke damage.
“One way or another, we intend to meet for church this Sunday,” a church spokesperson told WFAA.
Residents from as far as Irving have reported being able to see the fire on the Dallas skyline.
An official cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
Economists say the rate cut will have positive and negative affects on American consumers.
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — The financial world is buzzing after the Fed announced plans to cut the federal interest rate by 0.5%.
The stock market reacted immediately after the announcement was made Wednesday afternoon, with many indexes jumping initially and then ending the day negative.
Economists say the rate cut will send shockwaves throughout the entire economy, but how will the rate cut affect the average American consumer?
Let’s start with credit cards.
University of Saint Thomas Economics Professor Tyler Schipper says the rate cut will have a significant impact on credit card interest rates.
“There are a couple of places where you’ll see the impact relatively early and one of those places will be with credit cards,” Schipper explains.
“Borrowers will see a lower rate on their bill very quickly, maybe a billing cycle or two, that you’ll actually start to see those credit card interest rates come down.”
It’s unclear how significant the interest rate cuts on credit cards will be, but Schipper says it’s very possible they will be close to matching the 0.5% cut on the federal rate.
“A half-percent drop may not seem like a big deal for some people, but if you have a lot of credit card debt, that can have a big impact on your ability to get on top of it,” Schipper says.
The Fed’s rate cut will also have an impact on auto loans.
Professor Schipper says there is a weaker correlation between the federal rate and the interest rates on car loans, but he suspects car buyers should see some relief in the coming months.
“Car loans are tricky,” Schipper says.
“My best guess would be they are responsive, but not as responsive as those credit card rates.”
The rate cut will also affect the housing market.
Schipper says mortgage rates were already going down heading into the Fed’s meeting this week, and we could see another drop slowly over the next few months.
But the immediate impact could be a rush of homebuyers coming back into the market.
“Because people have been sitting on the sideline for so long that they feel like it’s now time to start searching. So there very well might be a psychological effect to this,” Schipper says.
It’s not all good news for consumers.
Schipper says savers will see lower returns on their savings accounts, bonds and CDs, which could affect seniors who are depending on those higher returns to maintain their retirement.
“A lot of those interest rates that were rewarding savers are going to start to come down,” Schipper says.
“Where people might want to store their extra dollars is going to change again as these interest rates come down.”
The Fed will meet two more times before the end of the year, and many economists believe we could see another rate cut, maybe even two rate cuts, by the end of the year.
So, some good news for borrowers, but for savers, those high returns are going to come back down to a normal level.
The results are based on customer satisfaction ranking on each of seven dimensions from ease of travel and terminal facilities to food and retail offerings.
MINNEAPOLIS — Some may consider Minnesota flyover country, but when it comes to airports, Minneapolis-St. Paul International is apparently the place to be.
The annual North America Airport Satisfaction Study by consumer barometer JD Power said MSP is tops in customer satisfaction among mega airports, which includes those that serve 33 million or more passengers per year. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport ranked second, followed by Phoenix Sky Harbor International.
The rankings are based on surveys of 26,000 customers who traveled through at least one U.S. or Canadian airport in the previous 30 days, and covers both arrival and departure experiences.
Researchers tallied passenger responses across seven core dimensions (in order of importance): ease of travel through the airport; level of trust with the airport; terminal facilities; airport staff; departure experience; food, beverage and retail offerings; and arrival experience.
2024 marks the second time MSP has topped JD Power’s airport survey in the past three years.
“Our purpose is to provide exceptional airport experiences so Minnesota thrives, and this prestigious recognition demonstrates that we are delivering for our travelers,” said Brian Ryks, CEO and executive director of the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), which owns and operates MSP.
“This award also acknowledges the work and focus of all airport employees and our partners who ensure our airport facilities, services and hospitality are maintained at the highest levels and exceed travelers’ expectations,” Ryks added.
MSP is currently the 18th-busiest airport in the U.S. It served 34.7 million passengers in 2023, and traffic is trending 8% higher this year.
The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), which operates MSP International, said the airport is not resting on its laurels. The largest renovation project in MSP history – updating concourses and gate areas in Terminal 1 – will be completed by late 2025, and ground was broken this summer for an expansion of Terminal 2 that will wind up in 2027.
In the large airport category, JD Power named John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif. the customer satisfaction champ, followed by Tampa International Airport and Kansas City International. Among medium airports, Indianapolis International came out on top, followed by Jacksonville International and Southwest Florida International.
A West St. Paul man was found guilty of murder by a jury. The same stems from a stabbing at a group home in 2020.
DAKOTA COUNTY, Minn. — A West St. Paul man has been found guilty for the murder of David Eugene Rahn more than four years ago.
The guilty verdict was reached after the four-day trial against John C. Adams II, who was found guilty of intentional second-degree murder. Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena announced the jury’s verdict, saying she hopes the verdict gives “some measure of justice to the Rahn family.”
The case stems from an incident at a state-run group home on Feb. 17, 2020. Court documents state a nurse heard Rahn yelling for help in a bedroom, but someone blocked the door and told her it was okay. When officers arrived, Rahn with found with stab wounds.
According to Keena, Adams argued he was defending himself against Rahn, who came into his room and attacked him. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide, and officers found the knife along with bloody gloves in a garbage can.
Adams will be sentenced in December.
