This month we chat with Sr. Cpl. John Burke, neighborhood police officer for the Spring Valley, Forest, North Central and Dallas North Tollway area.

What Whole Foods’ impending departure could mean for one of the oldest shopping centers in Far North Dallas.

A DART commuter rail line is poised to cut right through Far North Dallas, and several neighborhood leaders believe it’s on the wrong track.

Meet the neighborhood’s most enterprising youths.

Old-fashioned customer service still trumps new-fangled technology when it comes to suds.

These graduating seniors didn’t let life’s blows keep them down. This month, they will cross the commencement stage knowing their tribulations made them stronger.

Read about what motivated these former students to reenter the classroom in a very different role.

Gustavo Pinedo didn’t sleep much last Wednesday night, tossing and turning every hour. Surrounded by his mom, wife and extended family members he hadn’t seen in seven years, the Richardson High School alumnus anxiously awaited his life-saving surgery that would take place the next morning.

“We’re finally here,” he says. “After a long time waiting.”

Gustavo suffers from lupus, an auto-immune disease that had attacked one of his kidneys. He has spent the last year and a half undergoing dialysis. We featured the Pinedo family in our February issue and highlighted the enormous out-pour of support they received from RHS. Students and teachers spent several weeks hosting fundraisers to help pay for the transplant. Their initial goal was $6,500. To date, they’ve collected nearly $10,000.

When the family learned that Gustavo’s stepfather, Jose Pinedo, was match, Jose jumped at the chance to donate his kidney. Everyone gathered early Thursday morning at Baylor University Medical Center to begin the transplant process. Doctors say that Gustavo will be able to lead a normal life with the new kidney, and his symptoms of lupus should disappear.

Gustavo now plans to get serious about his culinary career (he was in RHS’ Culinary Magnet) and reclaim the precious time he lost with his wife and 18-month-old daughter.

We caught up with the Pinedo family at the hospital last week, and Advocate photographer Benjamin Hager shot a video, chronicling the final stages in Gustavo’s journey:

Gustavo Pinedo, a 2007 RHS grad, with his daughter, Maritcy

In our February issue, we wrote about Richardson High School 2007 alumnus, Gustavo Pinedo, who suffers from lupus and desperately needed a kidney transplant to live. The RHS community showed its support and then some, holding all kinds of fundraisers across campus. So far, the school has raised $9,643 to help offset medical costs for the Pinedo family – enough to help Gustavo receive his life-saving surgery next week.

“It was amazing,” says Gustavo’s mother, Valentina Pinedo. “I was very surprised. The students and teachers are very kind helping us out. I didn’t expect this much.”

Advocate photographer Benjamin Hager shot a video of the RHS pep rally where Co-op teacher Rochell Washington, who had Gustavo as a student and also has lupus herself, shaved her head in honor of Gustavo since the school exceeded its fundraising goal.

Gustavo will be receiving a new kidney from his stepfather, Jose Pinedo – a non-blood relative who happened to be a match.

The Richardson High School community is not only helping raise money for grad Gustavo Pinedo’s kidney transplant, but it’s lending moral support, too.

Will national retailers bring new locations to our neighborhood? What’s keeping them away? Can local businesses meet the challenge?

A collection of neighborhood gems that are better than the ‘best’.