Dallas-Fort Worth

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins believes the county's same-sex benefits plan approved last fall is legal, despite Monday's opinion from the Texas

Two potential presidential candidates are in Dallas today. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush will talk about immigration to one organization. Then in the

This is the first installment in the KERA News series "Inside the Bush Center." George W. Bush’s environmental legacy as president was decidedly mixed. He

Former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams was charged Thursday with capital murder in the shooting deaths of the County’s DA, his wife, and

Filmmaker Jamie Meltzer thought he’d just go check out a Dallas meeting for prison exonerees last February. He’d heard a group of freed inmates had started

Dozens of teachers on Thursday attended a recruiting fair hosted by the City of San Antonio at the Dallas Public Library. The lure? A potential job

Update, Tuesday, 8:05 p.m.: Citing security concerns, a federal prosecutor in Houston has decided to remove himself from a large racketeering case

Legendary pianist Van Cliburn has died at his home in Fort Worth, former CEO of the Cliburn Foundation Richard Rodzinski confirms. Cliburn was diagnosed

As we prepare to pop the cork on champagne to welcome the New Year, Bryan Wasson, an internal medicine specialist at Baylor Medical Center in Irving, breaks down the effect of alcohol on the body. 1) That festive cocktail is really a toxin "Well, alcohol, if you look from a strictly medical standpoint, it’s considered a toxin," Wasson says. "Now, there are some data that show that alcohol could have some beneficial effects, especially with the flavonoids and antioxidant components insofar as cardiovascular health is concerned." But Wasson says alcohol can negatively affect the brain, liver, bone marrow and immune system. 2) Alcohol is ninja-quick "Alcohol, for the most part, when you first ingest alcohol about 20 percent of it can be absorbed directly from the stomach," Wasson notes. "In fact, it goes directly through the walls and it’ll go and in fact will hit the brain in less than one or two minutes." Eating before celebrating with a couple of cocktails helps slow things down. 3) Women really do feel the effects more rapidly "There’s an enzyme system that us physicians are familiar with called alcohol dehydrogenase," Wasson explains. "In English, it helps detoxify the effects of alcohol, but it can only work at about half-an-ounce of alcohol an hour. So, if you’re drinking more than a half-an-ounce of alcohol per hour, you will soon feel the toxic effects of alcohol, which is the slowed speech, not so good coordination, etc. Also, in women, when it comes to this particular enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, they have less of it than men do. And that’s one of the things that they see as potentially a reason why women tend to get inebriated sooner than what males do." 4) Take a drink, lose impulse control "Impulse control is damaged by the effect of alcohol. We know it affects that area of the limbic system in the brain. Also it affects the frontal cortex at some time," the doctor says. "Now, that happens to people in general once they have had a little too much alcohol. " Wasson says you may think you're okay, but you're not. Have a designated driver. 5) The ultimate hangover cure: time "Once it’s now detoxified at this very slow rate, then the body begins to recover," he says. "You can drink fluids, for example, to help eliminate it. Eat nice and healthy the next day. Drink plenty of fluids, stay well hydrated. You may need a little Aleve, maybe a little Tylenol to help that headache, okay? And then hopefully get on after a day or two with your routine." Hangover Remedies From The Non-Medical Experts: Bartenders Josh Jordan, City Tavern: the "hair of the dog" -- a shot of Jameson Irish Whiskey and a cold beer. Enver Osmani, the Original Italian Cafe: bread, ricotta cheese and spinach. Hector Sandoval, Union Park Gastro Bar: 1/2 Mexican Beer, 1/2 Bloody Mary mix; add olive, lemon and lime juice plus a dash of salt and pepper. (consider 1/2 shot of vodka, too) Brian Boone, Adolphus Hotel Rodeo Bar: bitters and soda (settles the stomach) The search for a hangover cure is ancient and varied; some are even a little wacky. And if you're hitting the bubbly, NPR's The Salt blog breaks down the science of champagne.

Ken and Cecilia Christopherson are channeling Saint Nick in a very real way. Part treasure hunter, part master craftsman, Ken builds dollhouses from scratch. Each one takes 100 hours to construct, and each one goes to a very sick child stuck in the hospital for the holidays. He sands the frame, cuts wood for tiny pieces of furniture, paints, details and designs every square inch until he has a 2-foot-tall custom creation. They’re so beautiful that Ken is constantly mobbed with wanna-be customers. But these dollhouses aren’t for sale. “My wife had just had cancer and we decided, well we’re just going to see if the cancer hospital would like dollhouses,” Ken says. “We started five years ago, and we’ve delivered 62 custom-built dollhouses so far.” Cecilia is a breast cancer survivor who endured more than a year of chemotherapy. She says donating to Children’s Medical Center means the world to her. “I know what it feels like to be on the other side of cancer," she says. "Having chemo and having needles stuck into you and to be sitting there unable to do anything else but sit there and have this medicine poured into you." So the dollhouse project, born from the simple desire to brighten a sick child’s day, has taken on a life of its own. Ken and Cecilia’s home in Sachse is crammed with work tables piled high with wood scraps, paint, beads and princess figurines. After a successful run of girls' dollhouses, Ken decided to expand. “People have been telling me I need to do something for the boys, and I found the front of a barn on sale at Hobby Lobby and I bought it for $1.50, brought it home, copied it and now we’re making barns,” he says. Instead of traditional farm animals, Ken fills the barns with dinosaurs and other dangerous creatures. As you can imagine, they’re a big hit with the boys. The Christophersons are very sensitive to their little consumers. “We build them a foot wide, that way they fit onto the little table that rolls up to the bed,” Ken says. Each time the Christophersons make a delivery to Children’s Medical Center, they unload, but don’t stick around. They say they don’t want the patients or their families to feel obligated to say thank you. Kenedi Groves is one of the kids enthralled with the gift. “I love my dollhouse, it’s special to me,” she says. “I always play with it. I love it!” Kenedi just turned 7 on Tuesday. As she bustles around pointing out her favorite pieces of furniture, it’s obvious each hour the Christophersons put into her purple-and-black-mini-mansion was an hour well spent. “I love the little Kleenexes, all the details,” she says. Kenedi has been in Childrens' Cardiac Intensive Care Unit for four and a half months. She can’t leave the hospital because she’s been fitted with an artificial heart, called a Berlin, while she waits on a transplant. She has been through a lot, including a stroke when she first went on the Berlin. But her beloved dollhouse has been a bright spot. “I wish I always had it,” said Kenedi. “I just love it.” And the Christophersons are determined to keep building hope for every child they can.