{"id":415820,"date":"2026-08-25T01:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T01:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/415820\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T01:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T01:04:12","slug":"whats-going-on-with-highland-park-united-methodist-church-well-talk-about-it-on-kera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/415820\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s going on with Highland Park United Methodist Church? We\u2019ll talk about it on KERA."},"content":{"rendered":"

Libraries often offer refuge from the heat. In Dallas, they face cuts. <\/a><\/p>\n

We know libraries are for reading and researching. We\u2019ve also covered the topic of (in the case of Dallas) libraries being museums<\/a>, maker spaces<\/a>, gathering spaces<\/a>, and art galleries<\/a>. A new article in Next City<\/a> talks about another task libraries are often asked to perform: Being the place people cool off in the worst of the summer heat.<\/p>\n

Some libraries mentioned in the story actually serve as dedicated cooling centers for a neighborhood. Some serve as informal cooling shelters, where people head when it\u2019s hot, but maybe not emergency-level hot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLibraries tend to be one of the last free places that people can go and hang out,\u201d said one librarian. \u201cWe have a large community of people who\u2019ve got nowhere else to go, so they\u2019re hanging out in the library.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of this brings us to what is happening with Dallas libraries. We\u2019ll have a bigger budget overview after this week\u2019s City Council budget workshop<\/a> on Wednesday, but it\u2019s important to know that the city could decrease the library\u2019s budget by $2.6 million, and cut more than 70 positions. Already on the chopping block? The staff that assists with adult education, such as GED classes and English classes. Libraries will also be closed for two more furlough days\u2014September 4 and 28.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All of this means that as the weather gets hotter\u2014Next City spends some time talking about global warming\u2014and money to pay utility bills is used to pay for food and other rising costs, hours at libraries could be cut and some full-time library jobs could become part-time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The revised budget is not yet uploaded on the city\u2019s website<\/a>. But in the meantime, revisit our discussion with sociologist Eric Klinenberg about the importance of libraries as infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\"Fretz <\/a> Arts<\/a> Your Local Library Is a Group Project <\/a><\/p>\n

As the city eyes a $2.6 million cut from the Dallas Public Library system in the next budget, sociologist and author Eric Klinenberg says libraries are more important than ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Libraries often offer refuge from the heat. In Dallas, they face cuts. We know libraries are for reading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-415820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}