Devyani Chhetri
devyanichhetri.bsky.social
Devyani Chhetri
@devyanichhetri.bsky.social
City Reporter with the Dallas Morning News.
Thanks for sharing!!
February 4, 2025 at 4:23 PM
I love my work, and I hope you’ll stay with me. My writing and reporting matures every year and I’m excited to see just how. Onward!
December 5, 2024 at 2:51 PM
I leave you with this story about a community effort to create a system of natural trails in an urban forest:

www.dallasnews.com/news/politic...
How northwest Dallas residents are making 58-acre Bachman Greenbelt a recreational oasis
Friends of Bachman Lake, a nonprofit advocating for quality of life improvements and better transportation connectivity around Northwest Dallas, is trying to...
www.dallasnews.com
December 5, 2024 at 2:51 PM
To an episode in Parks and Rec 🫡
Parks And Rec John Ralphio GIF
ALT: Parks And Rec John Ralphio GIF
media.tenor.com
December 5, 2024 at 2:51 PM
My latest stories have been all about quality of life: parks and trails!

It’s one of those places where I joke that my life has gone from looking like an episode in veep…
a man in a suit is talking on a cell phone and the words whispers siri why does god allow suffering
ALT: a man in a suit is talking on a cell phone and the words whispers siri why does god allow suffering
media.tenor.com
December 5, 2024 at 2:51 PM
Much of my work this year has been figuring out the issues at the city’s crown jewel, Fair Park.The more I learned about the neighborhoods around the park, the more I’ve wanted to cry. This was a story I wrote with Leah Waters. It’s one of many, with more to come:

www.dallasnews.com/news/politic...
‘Weaknesses and gaps’: Fair Park First has little control under current contract
The contracts between the city, Fair Park First and OVG have limited the nonprofit’s authority to manage the park’s operator, board members say.
www.dallasnews.com
December 5, 2024 at 2:51 PM
I also dove deeper into the police and fire pension system’s dismal investment performance:

www.dallasnews.com/news/politic...
Consultant says Dallas Police and Fire Pension should invest more in private markets
Dallas police and fire pension system says investments will show better returns in 2026
www.dallasnews.com
December 5, 2024 at 2:51 PM
Funding pensions and its impact on finances has been a big issue for the city. I wrote a story about the ways City Hall was trying to come up with extra dollars to fund the shortfalls and how they were looking at public transit. It stirred quite the conversation:

www.dallasnews.com/news/politic...
Dallas City Council could consider diverting DART funding to address pension crisis
DART says sales tax reduction would detrimentally impact the transit agency’s services
www.dallasnews.com
December 5, 2024 at 2:51 PM
Since then, I’ve broken a couple stories here and there. I’ve written about the Dallas Wings moving from Arlington to Dallas. I followed that up with a story about public funds used for sports facilities and whether they do what local leaders say they’d do:

www.dallasnews.com/news/2024/06...
Dallas wants to be a ‘sports city.’ Economists caution using public funds to get there
A majority of academic studies show financing for professional sports in the past 20 years — whether subsidies, incentives or bonds to build stadiums and...
www.dallasnews.com
December 5, 2024 at 2:51 PM
My first story was a multi-layered fight that sort of became my first lesson into understanding themes that I’d run into in pretty much most every story:

www.dallasnews.com/news/2024/02...
Dallas megachurch seeks injunction against developer, cites ‘environmental racism’
The proposed warehouse in Southern Dallas has been embroiled in a dispute between property rights and the ethics of building a warehouse near a residential...
www.dallasnews.com
December 5, 2024 at 2:51 PM
And then right before the primaries, I got a job at the Dallas Morning News. I was leaving South Carolina for Texas and moving deeper into local journalism and covering a municipality.
December 5, 2024 at 2:51 PM
One of my last stories at the Greenville News was focused on the experiences of the local Muslim community and how they were dealing with the death of a young girl killed by an Israeli airstrike:

www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2...
Upstate's Muslim community remembers Palestinian girl who learned to walk in Greenville
Raghad Al-Jabri was born with deformities in her legs. She needed surgery to help her walk. Help came when SC's Muslim community banded together.
www.greenvilleonline.com
December 5, 2024 at 2:51 PM