Commercial Roofing Contractors in Denton, TX

COPPELL—A high school softball team doesn't reach mid-May with an undefeated record by accident.

And for all the heroics that have encompassed a rebound year for Plano West, state-ranked Denton Guyer was a step ahead at seemingly every turn in Thursday's one-game regional quarterfinal. The Lady Wildcats were on the scoreboard just three batters into the evening and strengthened their hold on the contest with each passing inning en route to an 8-0 victory from the Coppell Baseball and Softball Complex.

Guyer improved to 33-0 on the year, punching their ticket to the regional semifinals for the first time since 2010. The Lady Wolves were making their first third-round appearance since 2017.

"We knew we had to play a pretty flawless game to get a win. We hoped we'd be able to jump on them early and score some runs, and we did some good things early," said Mike Ledsome, West head coach. "We got some people on base and were hitting the ball, but we just couldn't get a run across the board."

The Lady Wildcats had plenty to do with that, leaning on the arm of freshman pitcher Finley Montgomery and a defense that made all manner of highlight stops to snuff out any sustained offensive by the Lady Wolves.

West was limited to just three hits on the night, with senior Adayah Wallace, sophomore Elyse Mikes and sophomore Kaaya Mehta all singling. The Lady Wolves totaled just seven base-runners in the loss.

West put a pair on base with one out in both the second and seventh innings, but Guyer's defense responded with a double play on each occasion — including a nifty flip of the ball from second baseman Kaylynn Jones to spark a 4-6-3 sequence to finish off the win.

Guyer's offense was just as potent, striking for 13 hits and capitalizing on a trio of West errors to swell the lead over the back half of the ballgame. The Lady Wolves stayed within striking distance at just 2-0 through three innings, but the Lady Wildcats ballooned their cushion with five runs between the fifth and sixth stanzas.

The top five hitters in the Guyer lineup combined for 10 hits on the night, led by a 4-of-4, two-RBI effort from Jordan Osborne.

"We made some uncharacteristic plays defensively, but that's what good teams do—they put that kind of pressure on you," Ledsome said. "They did and we just didn't make the plays we needed to and we didn't hit enough."

It was a hard-luck end to a bounce-back year for the Lady Wolves, who turned consecutive seventh-place finishes in 6-6A into a district championship. West finished off the year at 27-10, including a stretch of 12 consecutive wins heading into Thursday's regional quarterfinal.

"Coming off two years when not much good was happening and to have a turnaround like we did, that's a heck of a win in itself," Ledsome said. "It's a win for our program and just a testament to our seniors. They had been through the bad stuff and you never know that affects them when they get to their senior years and they were determined to not let it happen again."

Ledsome shifted the credit to the trio of seniors Brooke Hilton, Madison Strayhorn and Wallace for helping right the ship with the Lady Wolves. Wallace (Texas) and Hilton (Texas A&M-Commerce) are four-year starters who will go on to play softball in college.

"The credit goes to the seniors for how they got the girls on board, made them a team and developed a team. The rest was easy—we coached them up after that and they listened and worked hard," Ledsome said.

Although the contributions of that trio loom large, the Lady Wolves could very well bring back every other part of their district championship lineup next season, including seven starters and both pitchers deployed in Thursday's game in juniors Carra Cleaves and MC Pollacia.

"It's valuable experience. You hate it for the seniors for what they've meant to this program ... but this is big for us," Ledsome said. "They should come back stronger and feel like they're capable of getting it for the seniors that just graduated. All this experience is going to help us, there's no doubt about that."

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The new design for Target stores features large windows to allow natural light in, plants and regionally-sourced reclaimed wood in the construction design and more.

Credit: Target

DENTON, Texas — Target has plans to build a $22.7 million store in North Texas, according to a filing with the state of Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

The store would be included in a new mixed-use development located at 2755 W. University Drive in Denton, east of the Interstate 35 interchange and south of University Drive near a WinCo Foods grocery store and In-and-Out Burger.

WFAA reached out to Target for comment on the new store filing and have not yet heard back.

It would be the second store in the city and would be just over 149,000 square feet, which matches the metrics of Target's new, modern design. Target said in a November 2022 press release that its new larger-format stores would measure up to 150,000 square feet, which are 20,000 square feet larger than their average.

Starting in 2023, more than half of Target’s approximately 200 full store remodels and almost all the retailer’s approximately 30 new stores will include elements of the new design, officials said. Beginning in 2024, all of Target’s remodels and new stores will feature the majority of the reimagined store design elements.

According to a description of the new model, the most notable change compared to other stores would be increased light and natural elements due to larger windows to allow natural light in.

Targets with this new design will also feature plants and use regionally-sourced reclaimed wood in the construction design. Each store's design reflects the community it serves, such as native landscaping outside the store to localized product offerings.

Here is a rendering showing an example of what a new store may look like:

Credit: Target

Credit: Target

Credit: Target

Credit: Target

A Target location with this new model is up and operational outside of Houston in Katy.

Construction on the store, according to the filing, is scheduled to begin in October of this year. The projected completion date is August 2024.

More Texas headlines:

The founder of Swash Labs says business has never been better and employees have never been happier or more productive

DENTON, Texas — One year ago, WFAA introduced you to Josh Berthume who took his 12-person Denton advertising firm Swash Labs to a 4-day workweek.

After that, other reporters called to interview him, and academics have been calling to study his workplace model. The story got a lot of views and likes.

Surprisingly, it also received some hate on social media.

Berthume said most of the reaction to his advocacy for the 4-day workweek was overwhelmingly positive, but that some people who commented were negative and skeptical about the moves his business made.

“It was striking to me how negatively people would respond to something like that," he said.

The people who were trolling on social media couldn’t believe a company would really reduce a workweek with no strings. They angrily wondered aloud on social media platforms whether Swash Labs was making employees work longer days in exchange for fewer days, or whether the company had cut employee pay or benefits as a tradeoff.

So, to be clear, Bethume stresses, “We work a 32-hour week. And we made that change without any reduction in pay or benefits for anyone.”

A year after WFAA checked in with Berthume about the big change, he has great news to report: “Not only did our productivity increase, but last year was the best year we've ever had."

The company has thrived, but what is the bottom line for employees? Well, Berthume said, that since they work four days each week, and since there is no commute because they are fully remote, he calculates, “We've essentially given our employees 28 days over the course of a year… like full days."

Berthume said it has made a palpable difference in morale.

“I’m seeing it in my people. And if you think about the way a normal workweek goes, there is a drag at the beginning and drag at the end. And… if it's not burnout, it is exhaustion just from dealing with the structure of a job where you work 40, 50, 60 hours a week," Bethume said.

"And then you've got to also have a life. You've got to be a whole human being outside of work. The response from the people that work at Swash Labs has been like I have time to do these other things.”

After his story aired last year, Berthume heard from many people who wanted to come work for him. He said it wasn’t just because of a remote 4-day workweek sounds like paradise.

Full interview:

“A lot of them were the problems laid bare: ‘I need to work, and my husband needs to work, and we can't afford childcare’. Or ‘I want to work and I'm talented and I can do this, and I need to work remotely because I don't have a car’," said Berthume.

The thing is, Berthume didn’t have room to bring people onboard because he says Swash Labs didn’t experience the "Great Resignation".

“Our turnover rate is almost zero," he said.

Even though Berthume is thrilled with how it has all worked out, he said there were big challenges when removing one day per week from each employee’s schedule. Some employees get Saturday through Monday off and others get Friday through Sunday, the biggest hurdle appeared Tuesday through Thursday.

Since everyone was working those days in the middle of the week, the three days became meeting intensive.

But that problem opened up a whole new way of thinking.

“It forced us into the position to think… does everybody need to be in this meeting that we've sort of gotten in the habit of having? And does it need to be this long? And do our default meetings need to be an hour? Or could they be half an hour? And these meetings that we know are half an hour, could we boil those down to 15 minutes?

Berthume said giving thoughtful consideration to all of that has helped reduce and expedite meetings, creating new efficiencies.

Some other companies have been seriously re-thinking the value of meetings, too. We’ll see how people react to Berthume’s latest workplace target.

Breedlove Nursery & Landscape held its annual Butterfly Festival on Saturday. Guests enjoyed events such as butterfly crafts for the kids, Balloons by Gia, as well as an immersive butterfly tent.

Tony Delia, also known as “the Butterfly Guy,” entertained the guests with real life butterflies and learning opportunities. His mission is to educate people about the plight of the monarch butterfly through entertainment and education.

“We had butterflies in all four stages,” said Delia. “We had butterfly eggs, and monarch eggs on milkweed plants. We had the caterpillars that everybody got to hold and pet. We had the chrysalis of course and we had a live butterfly tent. It was a 12x12 tent with about 25 butterflies in it. Everybody went in and enjoyed themselves.”

Currently residing in Dallas, Delia also works in a salon and does some landscaping on the side. He raises butterflies on the side as a second job.

“I’m still learning ... I'm always learning how to raise better, more healthy butterflies. It’s constant learning, as well as teaching what I do know,” Delia explained.

Delia is known for traveling to East Texas to participate in events.

“I used to do several events in Tyler for birthday parties,” he said. “I don’t consider myself an expert, just an enthusiast. I”m just someone who likes butterflies and likes to share it. I just like to share my passion. Laurie reached out to me one day and we met and became really good friends.”

Laurie Breedlove and her husband Paul are the current owners at Breedlove Nursery. The nursery itself has been open for 96 years.

Breedlove said the Butterfly Festival is one of their “biggest retail events” of the year.

“There were hundreds of people out here. It was a mob. People were so happy and looking around. We had a kids craft where kids made a butterfly, and we also had different food vendors,” she said. “We have festivals about four times a year. This is our biggest one we have. We have one in the fall with pumpkins, and we have one in early spring which is usually the Daffodil Festival.”

Even though the festivals help bring people to the nursery, Breedlove also mentioned how they do landscaping as well.

“When we’re doing the landscape projects, no matter how big or small it is when we walk away, it’s beautiful. And when we see people’s reaction to the beauty of nature. We work hard; all of our co-workers are so good at what they do,” said Breedlove. Laurie enjoys connecting with the community, especially during events like the Butterfly Festival.

“When people look at us today and say thank you for doing this for the community, that makes me the happiest," she said.

Breedlove Nursery and Landscape is located at 11576 State Hwy 64 in Tyler. More information can be found at their website www.breedlovelandscape.com/contact.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s Parent Empowerment Tour makes a stop in Denton at 6 p.m. Monday at Denton Calvary Academy.

The governor has been visiting communities to promote one of his key priorities for public education in Texas: education savings accounts.

There are about 15 bills allowing for the savings accounts working their way through the state Legislature, but Abbott is expect to highlight a bill that went into a Senate committee this week.

The bill, Senate Bill 8, authored by state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, would give every eligible Texas student access to about $8,000 a year from kindergarten through 12th grade to attend a private school, a charter school or a magnet school in their district. The money would also be available for families home-schooling their children in Texas.

Austin Prochko, the Texas Public Policy Foundation project manager and deputy campaign director for Next Generation, said the agency is focused on SB 8, which would give families access to $8,000 a year per child. The foundation is a conservative think tank and is part of the Parent Empowerment Coalition.

“Gov. Abbott would like to make it as broad as possible,” Prochko said, referring to Abbott’s desire to see the Legislature open savings accounts for as many Texas educational formats as possible. “We would like to see a bill that’s as broad as possible. And that is our goal, to empower every parent to the fullest extent that we can. But eligibility is also going to differ from bill to bill.”

Abbott has promoted school choice as a means to give parents more influence over their children’s education, but at a rally for his educational priorities in Austin on Tuesday, Abbott told a crowd of roughly 200 people gathered before the north steps of the state Capitol that school choice is a response to what he deemed liberal indoctrination.

“Our children are taught a radical woke agenda,” he said. “There’s no reason why any students should have a woke agenda pushed on them. Our schools are for education, not indoctrination.”

Prochko said the tour events are for anyone who is interested in the governor’s educational priorities and accomplishments and who wants to learn more about school choice and education savings accounts, which are commonly referred to as vouchers. Prochako said the event is also relevant for people who object to school choice and the savings accounts created in the Senate bills.

“The main thing is Gov. Abbott wants to improve our educational system through education savings accounts,” Prochako said. “His goal is to make Texas No. 1 in the nation for education, and he views these as the path forward.”

In February, Abbott spoke to families in Temple, where he reminded them that he is urging legislators to provide more funding for public education and teacher pay raises during the 88th legislative session.

“Public schools play an essential role in our state,” he told the crowd in Temple. “They educate our future entrepreneurs, scientists and leaders. We must ensure that our education system works for every child. Parents also deserve education freedom. Without it, some parents are hindered in helping their child succeed. That must change this year.”

School choice has been an irritant to public school leaders for decades, as state legislators have rebuffed vouchers. But since the COVID-19 pandemic, conservative political groups across the country and the state have urged parents to challenge elected school leaders on topics from COVID policies and procedures to books in school libraries and classrooms. Republican state legislators have warmed to school choice in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Denton ISD school board members are leading the district through explosive growth and are preparing for a $1 billion bond package that will be on the May 6 ballot. Having state education funds allotted to savings accounts would divert tax dollars to schooling that isn’t accountable to local voters, Denton ISD Superintendent Jamie Wilson said.

“We believe taxes collected in the name of public education should go to local schools governed by locally elected trustees who hold publicly posted meetings to gain feedback from the families and communities they serve,” Wilson said in a statement. “All schools that receive funds collected by the state should have equal, aligned and transparent accountability and admission standards.”

Wilson said public schools empower parents in a number of ways.

“We enjoy a very healthy relationship with the parents and families we serve because we are transparent with our policies, involve local citizens in the decision-making process, and practice award-winning fiscal management,” he said. “When we are talking about parents’ rights, local citizens should have input when an organization manages or spends funds collected from taxpayers for the public’s benefit. In addition to the daily feedback we receive, parental involvement is not only crucial to our success, and it is mandated by the site-based decision-making process required by our state.”

Denton ISD serves more than 30,000 students and is on a fast track preparing for thousands more expected over the next 10 years.

“Families are moving here from all over the country and enrolling their children in our public school system,” Wilson said. “Families already have the ability to choose among public schools within our currently established school systems, and many of them choose us. I believe that is a testament to our exceptional educators and the work that happens in our classrooms every day — by our teachers and students.”

Those who want to attend the event should RSVP online to get free tickets. Prochako said the foundation is expecting a large turnout. Abbott will not have a question-and-answer session during the Denton stop, but he will take photos and speak with people after his keynote speech.

Doors will open at 5 p.m., and the event starts promptly at 6 p.m. Denton Calvary Academy is located at 1910 E. University Drive.