Email Author ANNA MERLAN

2012 Stories by ANNA MERLAN

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  FEATURED STORY

  Here Are Dallas Atheists' New Billboards, In Case They Don't See the Light of Day

  published Mar 27, 2012

  Just in time for Easter, the irrepressible atheists over at the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason are back. You'll recall that back in February, the group erected a South Dallas billboard in pra... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Police Say a Man with a Mohawk, a Fedora and Two Guns Just Robbed a Mutual of Omaha

  published Mar 27, 2012

  The FBI and Friends are at a Mutual of Omaha bank branch this afternoon, after an armed gunman made off with a plastic bag full of loot. The industrious folks at DFW Police Scanner report: An unknow... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Dallas Security Agency Launches New Service For Victims of Domestic Violence

  published Mar 26, 2012

  Before this morning, we had never heard of Reynolds Protection, a Dallas purveyor of bodyguards, or its owner, Chad Reynolds, who judging from his bio photo is roughly the size of a refrigerator. A ve... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Investigation of Standardized-Test Cheating Finds "Troubling Patterns" in Dallas ISD Scores

  published Mar 26, 2012

  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a sweeping investigation over the weekend of possible cheating on standardized tests in dozens of school districts across the country, and Dallas Independent... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Steve Doocy Doesn't Think We're Funny: Emailing with Fox & Friends

  published Mar 23, 2012

  Yesterday I wrote up sort of a half-assed blog post. It was mostly just a short clip of Rick Perry chatting with Steve Doocy from Fox & Friends about the evil feds, the nobility of the 10th Amendment ... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Rick Perry On Fox News: "We're Spending Most Of Our Time In The Courthouse Suing The Federal Government "

  published Mar 22, 2012

  Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com Rick Perry dropped by Fox News early this morning to let Steve Doocy know just how happy he is to be your governor. In less than five minutes, he also mana... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Homeless Man Accused of Throwing Molotov Cocktails at State Sen. Wendy Davis' Fort Worth Office

  published Mar 21, 2012

  On Tuesday night, state Senator Wendy Davis' staff announced that someone had set a small fire outside the door of her Fort Worth office using bottles filled with lighter fluid. The senator wasn't the... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  "It's Getting Rather Messy": The Best of the Rick Perry Facebook Bomb

  published Mar 20, 2012

  Over at the Morning News' Trail Blazers Blog, Christy Hoppe pointed out late yesterday that Rick Perry's Facebook page has been "inundated by angry women" unhappy about the end of the Medicaid Women's... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Bryan Rep. Bill Flores Wants To Revive Abstinence-Only Education Funding

  published Mar 19, 2012

  All this arguing we're doing about contraception is getting a little tiresome, isn't itr Sure, we get to use the word "sluts" repeatedly in a national conversation, and we've watched several elderly m... More >>

• Texas AG Greg Abbott Is Suing the Feds Over the Women's Health Program

  published Mar 17, 2012

  We realize you're probably too busy side-stepping puddles of green puke to give much of a shit about what's going on in Austin. Nonetheless, we feel obliged to note that Texas Attorney General Greg Ab... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Federal Medicaid Agency Lays Out Just How The Women's Health Program Will End

  published Mar 16, 2012

  What prompted Governor Rick Perry's frenzied bout of outraged tweeting about the Women's Health Program yesterdayr As much as we'd like to speculate that it was a bad batch of PCP (and will continue t... More >>

• Planned Parenthood Director Turned Pro-Life Superstar Is Suing PP For Alleged Medicaid Fraud

  published Mar 15, 2012

  As long as we're on the general theme of "unpleasant events that are somehow related to the Medicaid Women's Health Program," let's throw this one in there too: Abby Johnson, who was until a couple of... More >>

• On St. Patty's Day Weekend, Get Ready To Not Refuse. Again.

  published Mar 15, 2012

  Surprise! And by that we mean in a development that's no surprise at all to anyone, DPD just sent out a news release announcing that they'll be conducting another No Refusal DWI Initiative this weeken... More >>

• If Dallas Ever Actually Starts Regulating Boarding Homes, Maybe They Can Talk To El Paso About How To Do It

  published Mar 14, 2012

  In this week's cover story, we wrote about Dallas' boarding houses, which are home to thousands of the city's mentally ill, elderly, and disabled, as well as people recovering from alcohol and drug ab... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Texas Alliance For Life Executive Director Not Sure Why No One Is "Cheering For Rick Perry"

  published Mar 14, 2012

  Pro-life groups in Texas are in an awkward position these days, as the Medicaid Women's Health Program fights for its life. On one hand, they celebrate anything that they perceive as a blow to Planned... More >>

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  COVER STORY

  As Dallas Boarding Homes Struggle, City Hall Sits on its Hands

  published March 15, 2012

  The first few months after her husband died, Heather Boulware was fine. She didn't feel fine, of course, but she managed to keep taking the... More >>

• Tom Leppert and the Young Republicans Solve the World's Problems

  published Mar 13, 2012

  If you happened to stumble upstairs at the Londoner last night, you might have wondered just what the hell was going on. Why were so many of these men wearing suits to the barr Is that a sweater vest... More >>

• One Million Moms Is Now Calling For A Boycott Against "Blasphemous" GCB

  published Mar 12, 2012

  Back in February, it was semi-big news when a group called One Million Moms called for a boycott of Dallas-based J.C. Penney. The reason was the company's new spokeswoman, Ellen DeGeneres, who you wil... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Eddie Bernice Johnson on Rick Perry: "I Don't Even Know This Governor Anymore"

  published Mar 12, 2012

  Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, who worked as a nurse before heading to Washington, dropped by Martin Bashir's show on MSNBC to denounce Governor Rick Perry's stance toward Planned Parenthood (and to ca... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Rick Perry Vows to Save the Medicaid Women's Health Program from the Evil Feds

  published Mar 10, 2012

  Update, March 10: Federal Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced late Friday in Houston that federal funding to the WHP would be cut. She said the program will wind down over... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  The Race for Texas' New Congressional District Is Going To Be Very Interesting. And Crowded.

  published Mar 09, 2012

  Let's just call it: Everyone in town is running for Congress. Okay, not everyone, but the race for the newly-created, much-argued-over Congressional District 33 has gotten very, very crowded, especi... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  DISD's Next Superintendent Needs "Cultural Competency in LGBT Issues"

  published Mar 08, 2012

  Back in January, Robert watched as the DISD board, which has the amazing skill of stretching out any conversation to 10 times its natural length, debated the qualities they'd like to see in a new supe... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  7-Eleven: Scooting DPD's Downtown Patrol Into The Future

  published Mar 07, 2012

  The Dallas Police Department's downtown patrol is about to get a whole lot more, well, motorized. That much we can safely say. DPD announced yesterday that 7-Eleven was donating four new T3's to th... More >>

• Rockwall Rep. Ralph Hall Would Really Rather That No One Pays For Your Contraception

  published Mar 07, 2012

  If you've been hiding under an especially sturdy and soundproof rock for the past month, perhaps you missed out on the increasingly bitter national debate over contraception coverage. Lucky for you, U... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Don't Panic, But There's Probably Meth in Your Ecstasy and De-Wormer In Your Cocaine

  published Mar 06, 2012

  What's in your drugsr Well, not your drugs, obviously, or ours, because we're law-abiding, tax-paying, speed-limit-driving good citizens, one and all. But as anyone who may have a purely academic inte... More >>