Email Author ANNA MERLAN

2012 Stories by ANNA MERLAN

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  FEATURED STORY

  A Dispatch from Dwaine Caraway's Long, Tense, Tearful Anti-Sagging Summit

  published Sep 24, 2012

  It was pretty much guaranteed that Dwaine Caraway's "Saggin' Pants Forum," held Saturday in City Hall chambers, was going to be weird. This was, after all, almost a full afternoon devoted to the City ... More >>

• In Lake Highlands This Morning, a Man Allegedly Impersonated a Cop, Demanded a Woman's ID, and Offered Her a Beer

  published Sep 21, 2012

  Shakbsha Burleson has trouble sleeping at night. So around 3 a.m. this morning, as she told police, she set out for her usual late-night walk in her Lake Highlands neighborhood. Soon after, she notice... More >>

• Dallas Police & Fire Pension Sues State to Keep Records on a Development Private

  published Sep 20, 2012

  Even as the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System (DPFP) tries to deflect media attention from its shiny, shiny Museum Tower project, Courthouse News reports that it's also fighting to avoid releasin... More >>

• At the Opening of a Houston Pregnancy Center, Rick Perry Pledges To Help "Make Abortion A Thing of the Past"

  published Sep 20, 2012

  Governor Rick Perry, it may shock you to learn, is not such a big fan of abortion. Perry vowed some time ago to create a new, Texas-run version of the Women's Health Program, one that would ban doct... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Couple Suing Over False Reports of Mass Grave Say After Police Raid, They Came Home To a Trashed House and No Friends

  published Sep 17, 2012

  Back in June, we told you about Joe Bankson and Gena Charlton, a couple in Hardin whose rural farmhouse was raided after law enforcement got a hot tip from a ps... More >>

• Before "Women of Faith" Hits AAC, Female Atheists Throw a Gathering of Their Own

  published Sep 14, 2012

  Women of Faith, a conference put on by the nation's largest Christian book publisher, hits the American Airlines Center next week. The "Feminine Faces of Freethought" conference is not coincidentall... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  A Moron's Guide to the Fracking of Dallas

  published Sep 13, 2012

  In this week's print edition, staff writer Anna Merlan provides a handy guide to natural-gas drilling debate in Dallas. Read on for a primer, a glossary of terms, a look at the opponents and supporter... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Libertarian Senate Hopeful John Jay Myers Led a Small but Spirited Protest at WFAA Today

  published Sep 12, 2012

  Earlier this week we told you about John Jay Myers, the Libertarian Senate candidate who believes he'll be unfairly excluded from WFAA's planned October 2 debate. He promised to bring protesters to th... More >>

• 7-Eleven Romances Dallas Police Department With $300,000 For New Equipment

  published Sep 12, 2012

  Safer Dallas Better Dallas is a local foundation that raises money to buy new equipment for the Dallas Police Department and, as they put it, "fund the priorities" of DPD, something they've done to t... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Angela Hunt Wants a "Real Picture" of the Situation At Dallas Animal Services

  published Sep 11, 2012

  Back in July, the Animal Shelter Commission met for an update from city staff on the state of Dallas Animal Services (DAS). As usual, they ended up talking about a few major, unresolved issues: The a... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  WFAA Probably Won't Let Libertarian John Jay Myers Into Senate Debate, So He's Protesting Its Downtown Headquarters

  published Sep 10, 2012

  John Jay Myers owns the Free Man, a Cajun joint in Deep Ellum. He also runs a wholesale embroidery business, has a "deep, deep mistrust of the government," would like to legalize medical marijuana, a... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Heisted Kotex Tampons Were Supposed To Be Turned Into Fuel, Ended Up On the "Gray Market" Instead

  published Sep 07, 2012

  Earlier this week, we all shuddered in unison upon learning that some Kotex Natural Balance tampons, possibly tainted with bacteria and "metallic particles," were stolen and fraudulently sold under s... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Dallas Stripper Sues Baby Dolls, Claims Club Shorted Her on Wages and Overtime

  published Sep 05, 2012

  Strip clubs are the brave new frontier in employment lawsuits. Women who were for years treated as "independent contractors" are filing suit in droves against their current or former employers. All of... More >>

• Glenn Beck Says American Airlines Flight Attendant Made Him Feel "Subhuman," Compares Flight to Nazi's Europe

  published Sep 04, 2012

  Glenn Beck has seen the face of hatred in America, and it looks like a surly flight attendant. In a transcript from his radio show, posted to his website this morning, Beck claims that an American Air... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Three Women Walked into a Dallas Strip Club and Beat Up a Stripper Last Night

  published Aug 31, 2012

  Three people walk into a strip club and start hitting a dancer "with closed fists." The cops show up. Nobody gets put in handcuffs. Not exactly a joke. More of a riddle, we'd say. Marqualia Bernar... More >>

• This Week's Best Reddit AMA Was Not with Obama but a Former Texas Prisoner

  published Aug 30, 2012

  On the sprawling "social news" website Reddit, there are pages and pages of user-created discussions and links, ranging from funny to poignant to vile. One of the site's most fascinating sub-sections ... More >>

• Dallas Police & Fire Pension Chairman Decries Media Scrutiny, Pushes Back Against Nasher

  published Aug 29, 2012

  The Nasher Sculpture Center has been feuding with Museum Tower, its shiny new neighbor in the Arts District, over light, heat and reflectivity for going on six months now. At the end of July, we publi... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Grab Your Belts, Hide Your Drawers: Caraway's Saggin' Summit Coming September 22

  published Aug 28, 2012

  A few weeks ago, City Council member Dwaine Caraway ventured down to the first floor of City Hall, where he saw a sight that made his blood boil. Among the people waiting in line at the Bureau of Vit... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Over the Weekend, a Tense, Angry, Cabaret-Referencing Forum on Violence in South Dallas

  published Aug 27, 2012

  The shooting death in late July of felon and suspected drug dealer James Harper by Officer Brian Rowden during a foot chase at a South Dallas drug house has re-opened some barely closed wounds, touchi... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Take That, Time: West Nile Might Not Be Completely Our Fault

  published Aug 24, 2012

  Earlier this week, Time magazine opined that West Nile disease, which has now killed 12 people in Dallas County and sickened almost 300 more, is a "self-inflicted wound." Bryan Walsh wrote that an e... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  In Pleasant Grove, Building A Playground and Bringing an Abandoned Church Back to Life

  published Aug 23, 2012

  At dawn yesterday, the lot behind the former New Revelation Missionary Baptist Church was mostly empty, save for dust, rocks and scrubby grass. Although the Pleasant Grove church still looks normal f... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Appeals Court Says Planned Parenthood Can Be Banned From the Women's Health Program, Rick Perry Rejoices

  published Aug 22, 2012

  Texas' game of women's health pingpong continues. A panel of judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a preliminary injunction yesterday that had allowed Planned Parenthood to rem... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Rick Perry: "Aliens" Still Not Eligible for Public Benefits In Texas

  published Aug 21, 2012

  It's a pretty basic equation: When the Obama administration does something, Governor Rick Perry's against it. When at all possible, his administration will refuse to implement in Texas whatever policy... More >>

• Dallas Will Chip In $600,000 to Develop Housing for Veterans

  published Aug 20, 2012

  The debate around permanent supportive housing for Dallas' homeless has become incredibly bitter in the past several years , while regulation of private housing for the mentally ill will only really... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  The Rest of Dallas County Will Get Its Aerial Coating of Poison Tonight at 9

  published Aug 17, 2012

  Last night it most of the north and east parts of Dallas and the Park Cities; tonight it's everywhere else. County Judge Clay Jenkins and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings held a press conference at the Dall... More >>