From State Fair of Texas chaos to school district dress code changes, here are the top read stories of 2022.
DALLAS — After a whirlwind year, 2022 is coming to a close.
Here are the top 10 local stories on WFAA.com that you clicked on this year:
1. Athena Strand: Missing 7-year-old’s body found two days after going missing in Wise County — December
Athena Strand went missing from her Wise County home on Dec. 2. The 7-year-old had gotten into an argument with a family member and left her home in Paradise, Texas.
Her body was found on Dec. 3. Tanner Horner, 31, confessed to police that he had abducted and killed Strand. Horner, who was working as a contract FedEx truck driver, had been delivering a package to Athena’s family home when she was allegedly abducted.
2. State Fair of Texas closes an hour early after false shooting scare on Friday, officials say — October
The State Fair of Texas closed an hour early on Oct. 14 due to fairgoers trying to “create chaos” and crowds fearing that shots had been fired on the fairgrounds, officials said.
Video and photos circulating on social media showed people running and hiding throughout the fairgrounds while panicked and unsure of what was going on. Other social media users openly claimed to have firsthand heard gunshots at the fair.
Two historic military planes collided and crashed to the ground on Nov. 12 during a Dallas air show, federal officials said. The collision occurred dur ing the Commemorative Air Force Wings Over Dallas show.
Six people were killed in the crash, five crew members in a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and one aboard a Bell P-63 Kingcobra.
On April 8, a 15-year-old girl from North Richland Hills went to a Dallas Mavericks game with her dad at the American Airlines Center.
She went to the bathroom right before halftime. She never made it back to her seat.
She was found several days later in a hotel in another state.
While it wasn’t needed, the NFL considered AT&T Stadium as a replacement venue for this year’s Super Bowl. The Big Game took place on Feb. 13 at the brand-new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
A Dallas Cowboys front office source told WFAA that the team and league had engaged in preliminary discussions about AT&T Stadium serving as an emergency site for the 2022 Super Bowl should at-the-time COVID restrictions in California created problems with playing the game in Southern California.
7. Hostage situation at North Texas synagogue ends with all hostages safe and suspect dead, authorities say — January
After a nearly 12-hour hostage negotiation on Jan. 15, authorities confirmed all four hostages taken at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, were alive and safe.
SWAT officers with the Colleyville Police Department responded to the scene just after 10:30 a.m. The Federal Bureau of Investigations confirmed the identity of the hostage taker was Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British citizen.
A North Texas school district has announced an updated dress code for the upcoming school year, including a ban on hoodies and dresses. The Forney Independent School District, a district of about 14,000 students east of Dallas, announced the changes in June.
According to the district’s online statement and YouTube video, officials said there are short- and long-term benefits for the new dress code.
Tim is ready to be done with the state being his parent. His big blue eyes look tired now. He said it’s hard for him to sleep, and he longs for the day he stops moving from placement to placement.
“Kind of like being in a prison without walls. You got runners, but then where you gonna [sic] go if you run? Absolutely nowhere but right back to where you ran from,” he said.
In July, two winning Mega Millions tickets were sold in Texas and bought in Plano and Prairie View.
The Plano ticket was purchased at a RaceTrac convenience store, located at 1100 W. Park Blvd. The Prairie View ticket was bought from a Fuel Maxx, located at 420 University Dr.