Mandatory Bible Study, Pesky Bees and Public Art: Here's What's Happening Around North Texas

A former employee has sued a Lewisville doctor, claiming she was fired because she wouldn't attend daily Bible study meetings at the office.The employee, Almeda Gibson, told KXAS-TV (NBC5) that she asked to be excused from what she called mandatory morning Bible lessons at Shepherd Health Care and lost her job over it. Gibson has since filed a lawsuit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.She informed Dr. Tim Shepherd, who owns the doctor's office along with his wife, Virginia, that she followed a different religion. Gibson said she was then told that she "should probably start looking for another job" and was fired the next day, EEOC attorney Meaghan Shepard told NBC5.The Shepherds' attorney disputed Gibson's claim."This is not a meeting that was required all of the time, it was not always a religious content, and if somebody wanted to not attend they had every right not to attend," Thomas Brandon said.Vacant building ordinanceIn other Lewisville happenings, the City Council approved an ordinance last month that aims to crack down on vacant properties in the city.Wayne Snell, the city's director of Neighborhood and Inspection services, says the problem isn't an overwhelming one but is something the city has been working on for about a year."You can probably count them on two hands, but it was something that the city felt like had to get done," Snell told The Dallas Morning News in an interview last week.  Continue reading...