![\"Traffic](\"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/U5F3HTVUAVBS3EMNB6R2C7IJOE.jpg?auth=789dabe9af5aebc523212bae2b6864cc34981819316da14457d562659c92566a&quality=80&height=127&width=190&smart=true\")
<\/p>\nAcross Collin County in 2025, some of the region\u2019s most defining and widely-circulated stories played out in mosques, council chambers, schools, court rooms, and grocery stores. From national stories on politics, religion, and public health to local crime, food, and entertainment news, 2025 was busy north of Dallas. Here are some of the most-read, defining stories from Collin County on dallasnews.com from the past year.<\/p>\n
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced in March an investigation into a planned Muslim-centric neighborhood in Dallas-Fort Worth, formerly called EPIC City, over potential violations of state consumer protection laws. Texas officials threatened, sued, and denounced the planned neighborhood over the course of 2025, drawing massive regional attention to the project.<\/p>\n
Breaking News<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
In April, 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony was accused of stabbing and killing high schooler Austin Metcalf at a Frisco high school track meet, shocking the community and region. Anthony told police he was acting in self-defense and has been indicted on a murder charge. The case sparked racist discourse online and a Frisco protest held by the group \u201cProtect White Americans,\u201d thrusting two grieving families into the national spotlight.<\/p>\n
Plans for a temple by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the town of Fairview, 30 miles north of Dallas, have been the subject of heated debate and a threatened lawsuit, much of it focused on freedom of religion and the proposed height of the building\u2019s steeple. Fairview\u2019s Town Council approved a permit in April after more than five hours of debate and discussion, allowing a 120-foot spire despite residents\u2019 concerns that the size will dominate the town\u2019s neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
The Dallas Stars are considering a new $1 billion arena in Plano at the Shops at Willow Bend Mall site \u2014 a move that could see the hockey franchise leave downtown Dallas for the first time in its history, two people with knowledge of the team\u2019s efforts told The Dallas Morning News in October. The relationship between the Stars and Mavericks, who share the American Airlines Center, has deteriorated over the last year, reaching a climax this fall when the Mavericks filed suit against the hockey franchise.<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
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After getting its start in a tiny North Texas town, one of Texas Monthly\u2019s top 50 barbecue joints has packed up and moved to Plano. Yearby\u2019s Barbecue and Waterice, which specializes in halal barbecue, opened this year near U.S. Highway 75 and Parker Road after two and a half years in Pilot Point.<\/p>\n
John McKinzie, the former lead pastor of Hope Fellowship Church, resigned in September after confessing to a pattern of consensual \u201csexual sin,\u201d according to an email his church shared with The News. The Collin County megachurch earlier in the year removed a student pastor who allegedly confessed to inappropriate contact with a minor at a previous church.<\/p>\n
This year, Texas saw the largest measles outbreak the state has reported in more than 30 years, with a reported 762 cases, 99 hospitalizations, and the deaths of two children. The highly contagious virus spread quickly through communities with low vaccination rates and across dozens of Texas counties. In April, Collin County health officials warned about a possible measles exposure in Plano and later that month confirmed a Collin County middle school student tested positive for the virus, the first reported case in a child in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2025.<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
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A judge in Collin County unsealed the divorce records of Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, Republican state senator Angela Paxton, in December. The documents laid out a sharper picture of the breakup between Paxton, who is running for the Senate, and his wife, who blames him for the marriage\u2019s collapse. Paxton denied her allegations that he committed adultery. The divorce case records were released after legal wrangling between the Paxtons and several media organizations and a government watchdog group that sought access to the documents.<\/p>\n
Construction began this year on a $300 million, 20,000-seat open-air amphitheater in McKinney, roughly 30 miles north of Dallas. North Texas music fans could soon be heading to the new performance venue in Collin County to catch some of the music industry\u2019s top acts, the project expecting to draw hundreds of thousands of spectators to as many as 70 shows a year in the Dallas suburb.<\/p>\n
McKinney will soon get another Trader Joe\u2019s at 8101 Eldorado Parkway, about five miles away from an existing location in the city closer to U.S. Highway 75. The company, which has a devoted fan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2025: A Year in Review for Collin County Across Collin County in 2025, some of the region\u2019s most defining and widely-circulated stories played out in mosques, council chambers, schools, court rooms, and grocery stores. From national stories on politics, religion, and public health to local crime, food, and entertainment news, 2025 was busy north of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":19922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-reports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/DYGN77427FDB5M6BVEILMPQY44.jpg?auth=7927b2d1b6094a351f7040e9f1baaee505b77282000bf0c04f1ad2530a76aa6e&quality=80&width=1200&height=630&smart=true","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19920"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19920"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19923,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19920\/revisions\/19923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}