UTA In The News — Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Smaller voter turnout
Rebecca Deen, UT Arlington chair and associate professor of political science, said voters only have so much bandwidth in an article explaining why there may be smaller voter turnout for the upcoming May 1 local elections, KERAnews.org reported. “Because there are so many different elections and election cycles, something’s gotta give, and it’s usually the off-years,” Deen said.Wide open mayor’s race
Brent Boyea, associate UT Arlington political science professor, said Arlington will be in a transition after having Mayor Jeff Williams at the helm for six years, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. Williams has been term limited. The seven candidates vying for the mayor’s seat will almost assuredly garner a runoff, Boyea said.Rangers mask policy
The Texas Rangers baseball club isn’t strictly enforcing its own mask policy, The Dallas Morning News reported. Erin Carlson, director of graduate public health programs at The University of Texas at Arlington, said, “If you have been fully vaccinated and you are concerned only about the risk to yourself, then go to the game and enjoy it. Live again,” Carlson said. “But if you have others in your life who have not been vaccinated, then that’s where we still need to be very vigilant.”Film professor partners on digital dreamscape
Bart Weiss, an award-winning local filmmaker and UT Arlington professor of film, has teamed up with Greg Brownderville for “Fire Bones,” a digital dreamscape of audio, video, music, text and art, The Dallas Morning News reported. Created with smartphones in mind, it takes its audience on a magical journey through the Arkansas Delta, where Brownderville grew up.