If the interwebs are to be believed, then Kessler Park residents Todd Koch and Cooper Smith are starring in a new JC Penney advertisement about how cool dads are. Nice work, fellas! h/t D Magazine’s Frontburner.

The North Oak Cliff Library is seeking submissions for its short story contest. The competition is open to kids in the first through fifth grades. The deadline is 6 p.m. Saturday, so get to writing!

Rosemont's Bright Bison team at the Destination Imagination Global Finals in Knoxville, Tenn. Left to right: Ellie Adams, Marlowe Martensen, Olivia Dugger, Isaiah Calderon, Ace Ley, Hannah Mercado, and Mary Tawil

Oak Cliff needs to give Rosemont’s Destination Imagination team, the Bright Bison, a super-sized round of applause. The team, which includes Rosemont Primary students Ellie Adams, Isaiah Calderon, Olivia Dugger, Ace Ley, Marlowe Martensen, Hannah Mercado, and Mary Tawil, took fourth place out of 78 teams at Destination Imagination’s Global Finals last week in Knoxville, Tenn. — making them the highest-ranking American team in their division.

More than 1,200 teams from 30 countries competed in the weeklong event at the University of Tennessee. The Rosemont team was beat by Singapore, who took both first and second place, and China, who took third.

“But that still makes us national champions in our view,” team manager Dorsey Martensen said. “As the team was beaming with excitement and pride, tears began to well in my eyes. For all of their hard work to pay off was so rewarding. This journey that began back in October is finally coming to a close, but the memory of our experience at Global Finals will surely last a lifetime.”

Read more about the team’s win in this Friday’s edition of Oak Cliff People.

With 257 of 261 precincts reporting — that’s all of Tarrant County’s and all but four of Dallas County’s — Marc Veasey has 37 percent of the vote to Domingo Garcia’s 25 percent. Because no candidate reached 50 percent, those two will all but certainly face each other in a July 31 runoff. The third-place candidate as I type this is Fort Worth City Council member Kathleen Hicks, who has 13 percent.

The early vote results have been posted in the District 33 race.

In Dallas County, Domingo Garcia got 45.7 percent of the 3,532 votes cast. Coming in second was Marc Veasey with 17.36 percent, followed by David Alameel with 11.92 percent.

In Tarrant County, which had a much higher turnout (6,247 votes), Veasey earned 51.56 percent of the vote. Kathleen Hicks got 17.32 percent, and Garcia was third with 13.01 percent.

My trusty calculator and fifth-grade math skills show that Veasey has the overall lead at 39.2 percent. Garcia has 24.8 percent.

Preston Hollow resident Jack Pratt has been fighting to bring casinos to Texas for about 30 years. Today, you can bring that fight one step closer to entering the ring of public opinion. As D Magazine’s Tim Rogers pointed out, Proposition 3 on the democratic primary ballot reads thusly:

Should the Texas Legislature allow the people of Texas to vote to legalize casino

gambling with all funds generated being used only for education?

Now, this is just a vote to allow a vote, so don’t get too excited/hostile just yet. If I were a betting woman, I’d say we’re not likely to see neon lights and slot machines anytime soon.

Announcements are rolling in about where the Democrats seeking to represent the 33rd Congressional District plan to watch election returns tonight. I’ll fill in the gaps as the information becomes available.

David Alameel: Pegasus Ballroom at Hyatt Regency Hotel, 300 Reunion Blvd.

Chrysta Castañeda: ?

Domingo Garcia: Orion Ballroom in the Oak Cliff Tower, 400 S. Zang Blvd.

Kathleen Hicks: ?

J.R. Molina: ?

Carlos Quintanilla: ?

Jason Roberts: ?

Steve Salazar: JD’s Barbeque, 305 Centre St.

Kyev Tatum: ?

Manuel Valdez: ?

Marc Veasey: Smokey’s BBQ, 5300 E. Lancaster Ave. in Fort Worth

This morning I woke up to my alarm clock flashing midnight and all of my plants completely blown over. According to the Associated Press, so did many others in the Dallas area.

Last night’s storm left almost 14,800 people in DFW without power, and this morning, crews from Oncor Electric worked to restore power.

Were you left without electricity? According to my (sometimes accurate) iPhone weather app, it looks like Thursday will bring stormy weathers again. Fingers crossed they aren’t as damaging.