Email Author ANNA MERLAN

2011 Stories by ANNA MERLAN

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Dallas PD Busts Up Fencing Operation ... But, Wait, Hang On, What's This About Not Answering Under-$50 Shoplifting Callsr

  published Dec 30, 2011

  There's just one thing that will get us out of bed the day after the editorial staff's holiday party, on what is (ahem) supposed to be a day off: a City Hall press conference concerning organized reta... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Strippers Who Sued Jaguars Claim the Chain Retaliated. And That, Judge Says, Is a No-No.

  published Dec 28, 2011

  A Dallas-based strip-club chain facing a class-action lawsuit tried to compel its dancers not to join that legal action -- and even fired a woman who wouldn't comply, or so the strippers claim. In a m... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Joey Dauben Crusaded Against Child Porn. Now He's Accused of Assaulting a 15-Year-Old Boy.

  published Dec 22, 2011

  Perhaps you've heard by now: Joey Dauben, publisher of the Ellis County Observer and several other small-town papers and websites throughout North Texas, has been indicted and arrested on charges of s... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Camera Crew in Tow, Khloe Kardashian Occupies City Hall. For the Children.

  published Dec 21, 2011

  Perhaps you've heard: Famous Person Khloe Kardashian lives in Dallas now. She spent her midday hours today over at Dallas City Hall, collecting toys for Children's Medical Center of Dallas. Joining he... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  A Successful Health Program May End Thanks to Texas's Quest to Kill Planned Parenthood

  published Dec 20, 2011

  It's been a good 14 minutes since the state twisted its rusty knife into the already-wounded gut of women's healthcare. But fear not: There's a huge, ugly storm brewing between the state and federal g... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  A Christmas Miracle, Dwaine Caraway-Style. Deion Sanders Also Makes a Surprise Cameo.

  published Dec 19, 2011

  On Friday afternoon, 30-year-old Shontell Johnson lived in a rundown house in South Oak Cliff, where she took care of 13 children: six of her own, three from a neighbor with a drug problem, and four f... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  DISD Teachers, Custodians Hold Candlelight Vigil In The Rain To Protest Job Cuts

  published Dec 16, 2011

  Undaunted by last night's cold drizzle, around 30 Dallas ISD teachers, custodial workers and other support employees held a quiet march and candlelight vigil outside 3700 Ross Avenue. The reasonr DISD... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Rawlings Declares "Let The Dirt Fly" as City Council Approves Sylvan Thirty Zoning

  published Dec 14, 2011

  Just after that totally delightful discussion on the voting habits of trees, after which the city council OK'd a new Walmart, there came another momentous development matter: the West Dallas mixed-use... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Coming (Slowly, As Usual) To An Oak Cliff Intersection Near You: The "People's Plaza"

  published Dec 13, 2011

  Way back last April, the energetic, civic-minded hipsters over at Better Block turned the area around King's Highway, W. 7th St. and N. Tyler St. in Oak Cliff into a nice little plaza space where it w... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Stripping's Suze Orman

  published Dec 09, 2011

  Rebecca Avalon likes to say she did things backwards: went to college, got a master's degree in science education, became an elementary school teacher, then started stripping. She's quit dancing full ... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  John Wiley Price, West Turn Up For Tense Forum on Fate of Dallas's Main Post Office

  published Dec 08, 2011

  Technically, the U.S. Postal Service hasn't yet made a decision about whether it will close the processing center at the main post office near Sylvan and IH-30, just one of several local sites it's co... More >>

• DPD Chief Brown, McGruff Visit City Council To Talk "Community-Based Crime Prevention"

  published Dec 07, 2011

  On Monday a few Friends of Unfair Park seemed a little humbugged to hear that the Dallas Police Department, along with the mayor and the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, would prefer you buy ... More >>

• 

  COVER STORY

  Strippers Have Rights. But Do They Want Them?

  published December 8, 2011

  It's 9 on a Tuesday night, and Jaguars Dallas, a big, boxy strip club between Stemmons Freeway and Northwest Highway, is almost empty. The club... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Your First Look Inside City Performance Hall, Which, Again, Could Really Use Some Rentals

  published Dec 06, 2011

  Yesterday afternoon the Arts Culture and Libraries Committee took its quick tour of the construction site that will soon be the City Performance Hall, which they hope somebody might want to rent out a... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Last Week, Several From Dallas City Hall Took a Couple of Field Trips to the Justice Department

  published Dec 06, 2011

  The answer is no, the question being: Will we ever stop writing about the city redistricting processr But it's been a little while, so let's review. Then we can discuss the dueling delegations who app... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Mayor, Police Chief Ask You Not To Buy Your Christmas Gifts On The Black Market This Year

  published Dec 05, 2011

  This holiday season, City Hall, the Dallas Police Department and the Dallas County District Attorney's Office would like to remind you not to buy your gifts out of the trunks of cars or through sketch... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  In South Dallas, a Fight Between Dog Rescuer and Neighborhood Turns Ugly. (RIP, Booger.)

  published Dec 02, 2011

  A years-long dispute between a woman who runs a dog rescue out of her home and her increasingly annoyed neighbors has resulted in hundreds of phone calls to Animal Control, a felony robbery conviction... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Rave Onr Not Likely as City Appeal Board Puts Afterlife to Death Following Riveting Hearing.

  published Dec 01, 2011

  In mid-October we predicted that the hearing before the Permit and License Appeal Board over whether the club Afterlife should have its dancehall license revoked  would probably be the most excit... More >>

• Competence on Trial: The Strange Odyssey of Serial Dallas Lawsuit Filer Lester Ruston

  published Nov 28, 2011

  Every decent-sized courthouse in the country has its own serial pain in the ass, the guy who thinks nothing of suing the kids who threw a ball over his fence or the cat who pooped in his yard. But the... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Mayor Mike Rawlings Last Night: "Everything I Look At, I Ask, 'Is It Right for Southern Dallasr'"

  published Nov 23, 2011

  Last night, Mayor Mike Rawlings hosted a community forum at Cedar Crest Golf Course, billed in the invitation as an "update on the City of Dallas." Backed by council members Dwaine Caraway and Tennell... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  City's Senior Affairs Commission Warned That Many Dallas Boarding Houses Are "Snake Pits"

  published Nov 22, 2011

  If you happen to own or rent a house and you enjoy exploiting the elderly and the mentally ill, the city of Dallas has a legal loophole made just for you. A representative from Mental Health America o... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  The Depressed Lesbian Vet and the Allegedly Homophobic VA Nurse: A Match Made in Hell

  published Nov 18, 2011

  A Dallas VA Medical Center nurse is on leave and her bosses are in full-blown groveling mode after a gay combat vet, in search of help for her deepening depression, said she was urged to come out of t... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Didn't Take Long at All For Perot Museum of Nature & Science to Make Its (Big, Big) Money

  published Nov 17, 2011

  For days we've been promised a major announcement today from the Perot Museum of Nature & Science; as in, said the week's worth of press releases, "a MAJOR announcement" would be made this morning. An... More >>

• We'd Love to Buy a Vowell

  published November 3, 2011

  Sarah Vowell appeared on The Daily Show last year to promote The Wordy Shipmates, her set of essays on Puritan America. She was... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Jury Finds Former Animal Shelter Manager McGill Not Guilty of Letting Cat Die in Wall

  published Nov 10, 2011

  After several hours of deliberation, a jury returned a verdict of not guilty in the felony animal cruelty trial of Tyrone McGill, the former animal shelter manager indicted in August 2010 following a ... More >>