Volunteers from the Grapevine Parks and Recreation Department and Sabre Holdings Corp.'s Travelocity division have been recognized for their efforts to restore a flood-damaged park.

They were among 15 winners of the Take Pride in America National Award, presented by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne in Washington.

"It took an army – a team of workers private and public to receive this award," said Joe Moore, assistant director of Parks and Recreation.

Travelocity, based in Southlake, and the Grapevine department received the public-private partnership award for a two-day cleanup in April of Meadowmere Point, part of Meadowmere Park near Grapevine Lake.

Other Texas award winners include Dorie Murphy, a park ranger at Bardwell Lake in Ennis.

Rachel Slade

An 85-year-old Dallas man died Wednesday afternoon when his glider crashed in a wooded area near Midlothian.

Richard H. Johnson was flying solo around 1:30 p.m. when the crash occurred, according to a Texas Department of Public Safety incident report. Witnesses reported seeing Mr. Johnson's glider go up before going straight down, the report said.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are trying to determine what brought the glider down.

The glider had taken off from the Texas Soaring Association in Midlothian.

From staff reports

State licensing officials on Wednesday shut down the day care center where a 19-month-old girl was enrolled when she died after possibly being left in a day care van for up to six hours.

Kamila Brown was enrolled at Tyne Gifted Achievers No. 2 in the 3100 block of Dutton Drive, near South Westmoreland Road, at the time of her death Monday. The state also closed another Tyne Gifted Achievers location in the 2400 block of Emmett Street, said Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Someone took Kamila to a Dallas Fire-Rescue station about 3:30 p.m. Monday after she apparently had been left in a van for several hours, according to a Dallas police report. She was taken to Children's Medical Center Dallas, where she was pronounced dead at 4 p.m.

The state has cited both locations for previous violations, according to public records. The investigation is ongoing. Autopsy results are pending and no arrests have been made.

Scott Goldstein