Email Author ANNA MERLAN

2013 Stories by ANNA MERLAN

• Texas Congressman: Masturbating Fetuses Are Proof That Fetal Pain Is Real

  published Jun 18, 2013

  It's always reassuring to know that no matter how stupid things get in the state legislature, things are just as dumb, if not more so, in Congress. Perhaps "reassuring" is the wrong word. In either c... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  A Tiger with a Runny Nose Turned into a Massive Case of Canine Distemper at a Big Cat Rescue in Wylie

  published Jun 17, 2013

  The trouble started innocently enough, back in early May, when Cairo the tiger had a snotty nose. Vicky Keahey, the president of In-Sync Exotics, the Wylie rescue society where Cairo and several dozen... More >>

• Governor Perry Signs Bill Requiring Drug Testing For Unemployment Benefits

  published Jun 14, 2013

  Governor Rick Perry signed a bill into law today that will require people applying for unemployment benefits to submit to a drug test, if their responses to a screening questionnaire indicate possible... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Toddler Drowns in Swimming Pool in Far North Dallas While Grandfather and Uncle Cut Grass

  published Jun 14, 2013

  A 3-year-old boy drowned in a swimming pool in far North Dallas yesterday afternoon, according a statement just issued by the Dallas police. DPD's report says that Genesis Gregory went with his grandf... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Museum Tower Is Sorry Their Awesome Glass Reflected on Nasher, Offers Same Solution Again

  published Jun 13, 2013

  Officials at the Dallas Police & Fire Pension System, which owns the Arts District's shiniest building, Museum Tower, have loudly announced that they have a solution to their glare problem, the one mu... More >>

• Texas GOP's Sophisticated Plan to Pass Special Session Anti-Abortion Bills: Cheating

  published Jun 12, 2013

  Remember how Governor Rick Perry called a special session to talk about redistrictingr And remember how sophisticated political observers (i.e. everyone with eyes and a functioning brain) predicted th... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Psychic Who Said a Texas Couple Was Hiding a Mass Grave Now Owes Them $6.8 Million

  published Jun 11, 2013

  It's our sad duty this morning to bring you the last installment in the Case of the Psychic Who Couldn't See Shit, aka Presley "Rhonda" Gridley. Just about a year ago, a Liberty County, Texas, couple,... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Chris Kyle's Widow Tells Glenn Beck She Doesn't Believe Her Husband's Alleged Killer Suffered From PTSD

  published Jun 10, 2013

  Right now, Eddie Ray Routh is sitting in jail in Erath County, where he has been since February, when he was accused of shooting and killing former sniper Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield at... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Sex Workers Pissed Off, Frightened by Acquittal of a San Antonio Man Who Killed an Escort

  published Jun 07, 2013

  By now, you've likely heard about Ezekiel Gilbert, the 28-year-old San Antonio man who was acquitted yesterday of murder in the death of Lenora Ivie Frago. In case you've somehow missed it: Gilbert me... More >>

• All Those Anti-Abortion Bills that Failed Resurface in Legislature's Special Session

  published Jun 06, 2013

  This session in the Texas Legislature was sort of stupid, but then again, they usually are. Although they did manage to pass a budget, their main piece of business each session, your esteemed lawmaker... More >>

• Texas Puts a Lot of People in Jail for Weed, Especially Black and (Probably) Brown People

  published Jun 05, 2013

  The Sierra Blanca border patrol checkpoint is, at this point, the stuff of legend: If you're a musician and you pass through there, you're going to get popped for pot possession. You just are. Snoop D... More >>

• We Ran into Warring Council Candidates Philip Kingston and Bobby Abtahi at a Bar. Awkward!

  published Jun 04, 2013

  There wasn't much interest in the City Council elections this year, evidenced mainly by the fact that hardly anybody showed up to vote in them. We don't blame you. It was a Saturday, and there were p... More >>

• The Boy Scouts Have Been Possessed by Big Gay Demons, and Other Gay-Scout Fallout [Updated]

  published Jun 03, 2013

  A couple of weeks ago, delegates from the Irving-based Boy Scouts of America voted to lift their ban on openly gay Scouts, though openly gay adult staff members are still barred. When that vote happen... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Anonymous Hacktivist Barrett Brown Can Use Money His Supporters Raised for His Defense

  published May 31, 2013

  Barrett Brown's had a rough few months, each one a little worse than the last. In September, he was raided, arrested and ultimately charged with threatening an FBI agent on YouTube and Twitter. In D... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Flower Mound Creates Tip Line to Tell Police About Everyone You're Pretty Sure Does Drugs

  published May 30, 2013

  On May 17, 2011, 17 people, most of them very young, were indicted for drug crimes in and around Flower Mound, a sleepy, prosperous suburban town about 20 miles north of Dallas. Most of the defendants... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Dallas Morning News to Pension Fund: We Weren't Trying to "Wrongfully Record" You, and Your Lawsuit Threats Are Silly

  published May 29, 2013

  The Dallas Police and Fire Pension System has had a rough few months, what with the widespread public perception that they've installed a big, fancy Eye of Sauron downtown . Also, they're having to de... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Does This JCPenney Tea Kettle Look Like Hitler to Your [Updated]

  published May 28, 2013

  Oh, JCPenney. The Plano-based department store chain just cannot seem to stop stepping in it, in the weirdest ways possible. Last year, there was Gay Dad-Gate, in which the company pissed off homophob... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Boy Scouts of America Delegates Vote to Lift Ban On Openly Gay Scouts [Updated]

  published May 23, 2013

  The Boy Scouts of America have formally voted to lift the longstanding ban on openly gay scouts, according to a tweet from a delegate at the meeting where the vote took place. Openly gay scoutmasters ... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Every Anti-Abortion Bill in the Texas Legislature This Session Has Failed

  published May 23, 2013

  Man. We remember a time, long ago last legislative session, when all your state lawmakers wanted to do was talk about abortion and how much they hated it. They were super-duper against it, as they cou... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  SMU Student Donald Cuba Found Not Guilty of Rape

  published May 22, 2013

  A Dallas County jury has found Donald Cuba not guilty of rape, The Dallas Morning News' Melissa Repko is reporting. Cuba, a 20-year-old junior, was accused of raping a fellow student in a dorm room e... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  At an SMU Student's Rape Trial, Glimpses of the School's Secretive Justice System

  published May 22, 2013

  Last fall, 20-year-old SMU junior Donald Cuba was indicted on charges of raping a fellow student in a dorm room. He was one of two SMU students charged with sexual assault that year (both in the same ... More >>

• Associa CEO and State Senator John Carona's Many Colorful Conflicts of Interest

  published May 20, 2013

  John Carona, our Republican state senator from Dallas, learned some hard lessons this session about how his fellow lawmakers' business interests tend to dominate the doings in the legislature. Last mo... More >>

• One-Year-Old Child Dies After Being Left in Locked Car at Elementary School [Updated]

  published May 17, 2013

  A 1-year-old child died after being left in a locked car in the parking lot of Frank Guzick Elementary School in Pleasant Grove. The child's mother is a teacher at the school, according to a statement... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  The Calvary Church of Granbury Was Reading the Book of Revelation When the Hail Started

  published May 16, 2013

  Last fall, I drove down to the Calvary Church of Granbury, a Pentecostal congregation in the little town southwest of Fort Worth that was devastated by last night's tornadoes. It's a tiny building wit... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  A Special Investigation into the Weird Chalk Marks on This One Dude's Apartment Door

  published May 15, 2013

  This is a weird one. The story comes to us via Reddit (of course), where a resident of an apartment complex near State and Thomas streets in Uptown writes that he's distressed by the appearance of a s... More >>