Email Author Brantley Hargrove

2013 Stories by Brantley Hargrove

• FEATURED STORY

  Plan Commission Will Consider New Gas Drilling Regs This Thursday

  published Jun 18, 2013

  It's been more than a year since a task force sent the Dallas City Council its recommendations for retooling the city's gas drilling ordinance. But the first step toward updating city code will final... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Perry Vetoes Modest, Mincing Reform of Texas' Political Aspirant "Springboard" (Aka the Railroad Commission)

  published Jun 17, 2013

  In case you missed it, Gov. Rick Perry used his veto Friday to override the bipartisan will of the legislature, which sought to inject the most meager, almost universally agreeable ethics reform into ... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  One of Texas' Biggest Power Generators Just Admitted Deregulation Is a Colossal Failure

  published Jun 13, 2013

  A bigwig at NRG, Texas' second-most prolific electricity generator, took to the editorial page of the Houston Chronicle the other day, and the result was remarkable -- a tacit admission from one of t... More >>

• Legislators to Consider Measure for 17-Year-Old Capital Murderers as Jake Evans Trial Looms

  published Jun 12, 2013

  The Parker County district attorney is keeping an eye on the Legislature's special session. Next month, Jake Evans' case is scheduled to go to trial. The 17-year-old kid from a gated community in Ale... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Here Are a Couple of Common-Sense Pieces of Legislation the Texas Electricity Lobby Killed

  published Jun 11, 2013

  Electricity issues may not get as much ink as abortion-ban legislation here in Texas, but there were a few bills filed this session -- more like kale than red meat -- that sure as heck would have ha... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Battery Maker Exide Declares Bankruptcy as Frisco Attempts to Clean Its Toxic Legacy [Updated]

  published Jun 10, 2013

  Pollution woes and lagging sales have driven battery maker Exide into bankruptcy for the second time in a decade. For the city of Frisco, the timing couldn't be more inopportune. In exchange for shut... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Feds: Greatest Risk for Summer Power Grid Problems Is in Texas

  published Jun 07, 2013

  It's that time of year again, when the feds single out Texas' precariously thin power reserves. Even California -- a state not known for electrical reliability -- is projected to experience fewer pro... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Thanks to Texas Tight Oil, the U.S. Now Officially Produces More Oil Than It Imports

  published Jun 06, 2013

  Buried in an unheralded weekly U.S. petroleum balance sheet released Wednesday was a milestone that not so long ago seemed unimaginable: We pumped more oil out of the ground than we imported for the ... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Suspect Slips Handcuffs, Shoots Out Window of Highland Park Police SUV, Is Killed Near SMU

  published Jun 05, 2013

  So many questions remain unanswered regarding the fatal shooting of a motorcyclist in police custody Tuesday evening. Who is her How did he manage to bring a gun into the back of a Highland Park poli... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Group Fears Frisco Will Build a Grand Park Poisoned With Exide Lead

  published Jun 04, 2013

  The city of Frisco plans to build a 275-acre, $23 million "Grand Park." It will be a regional attraction, a center to the city, replete with a festival green, a park for the kiddos and a "grand prome... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Unemployment Among Young Adults Decreasing in Texas, But Ever So Slowly

  published Jun 03, 2013

  The workers bearing the disproportionate brunt of the recession are young, underemployed or unemployed and struggling to gain a foothold at a critical stage in life. In Texas, the overall unemploymen... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Texas Landowners Say TransCanada is Digging Up Parts of Keystone Pipeline for Repairs

  published May 31, 2013

  Landowners along the nearly 500-mile southern section of the Keystone XL pipeline say contractors have been excavating long-buried lengths of pipe to repair apparent defects. They've documented stakes... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Strongest Email Privacy Bill in the U.S. Is on Gov. Rick Perry's Desk

  published May 29, 2013

  Unless Governor Rick Perry uses his veto, Texas is set to enact the most stringent email privacy protections in the country. The legislation, passed unanimously, would require state law enforcement a... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Coal Is Making a Comeback, and Nobody Burns it Like Texas

  published May 24, 2013

  For a time, coal was moribund, on life support. We thought perhaps the country was permanently shrugging off its dependence on the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. Coal-fired power plants were being moth... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  As Jake Evans Trial Looms, Texas Has No Way to Punish 17-Year-old Capital Murderers

  published May 23, 2013

  In October of last year, at around 11:15 p.m., 17-year-old Jake Evans placed a 911 call from his upscale home in Aledo, a tony suburb just outside of Weatherford. "It's weird," he said, his voice ee... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Harold Simmons Calls His Shots in the Texas Legislature Once Again

  published May 22, 2013

  Harold Simmons, the Dallas billionaire and owner of a West Texas radioactive-waste dump, won yet another tailor-made piece of legislation Tuesday. When all seemed lost, and his bill was hung up on a ... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Kessler Park United Methodist Calls on Boy Scouts to "Welcome All Persons of Good Will"

  published May 21, 2013

  This Thursday, the Boy Scouts of America will teach its young men a lesson as indelible as any they're likely to learn from a scoutmaster. Its national delegation will vote on a longstanding prohibiti... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Randy Travis Really Doesn't Want Anyone to See That Video of His Drunken, Naked Arrest

  published May 17, 2013

  Randy Travis, the wiry, multi-platinum-selling country crooner with a golden voice that carries enough bass to rattle your silverware, had a tough 2012. In February, he was cited and arrested for pub... More >>

• Oncor's "Phantom Tax" Windfall May Become Permanent as Bill Hits Texas House Floor

  published May 16, 2013

  Oncor, the Dallas-based sticks-and-wires utility, has collected half a billion dollars from ratepayers since 2007 for federal income taxes. But according to a report, the IRS hasn't received a dime. ... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  An Account of the (Toy) Gunman Who Inadvertently Put the George W. Bush Presidential Center on Lockdown

  published May 14, 2013

  Last Saturday, the folks taking in the new George W. Bush Presidential Center were briefly under the frightening misimpression that it had come under terrorist attack, as reports of an "active shoote... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Trinity East's Fracking Plans Might Be Screwed with the New Dallas City Council

  published May 13, 2013

  Even with two seats in limbo, the complexion of the new Dallas City Council looks decidedly unfavorable for Trinity East, the would-be fracker from Fort Worth that paid the city millions for the righ... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  No Oral Arguments in Case that May Have Driven Eric Williams to Kill in Kaufman County

  published May 10, 2013

  It was always one of the pieces in Eric Williams' story that didn't quite fit a narrative with an otherwise tidy motive for murder. The disgraced former justice of the peace had appealed his April 20... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Dallas Settles With the Waste Industry, Killing Flow Control Once and For All

  published May 08, 2013

  The final chapter appears to have been inked in the long, sorry saga of flow control, a moneymaking scheme that placed City Hall's imprimatur on the idea that southern Dallas isn't much more than a tr... More >>

• FEATURED STORY

  Why Plano-based Chinese Telcom Huawei Thinks It Has Been Frozen Out of the U.S.

  published May 08, 2013

  Last fall, Huawei, the Chinese telecommunication giant whose U.S. base just happens to be in Plano, was the subject of intense scrutiny over fears that it might serve as a Trojan horse for cyber-spie... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Gov. Rick Perry: Standing Against Gays in Boy Scouts Akin to Sam Houston's Refusal to Align with the Confederacy

  published May 06, 2013

  The Boy Scouts of America is proposing to lift its ban on gay youths, but to leave it in place once those gay Scouts become gay adults. This compromise -- gays Scouts, no gay scoutmasters -- apparen... More >>