Email Author Brantley Hargrove

2011 Stories by Brantley Hargrove

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  FEATURED STORY

  Hispanics Not Thrilled With Obama, But They Still Won't Vote For Rick Perry, Study Says

  published Dec 29, 2011

  These days it seems as though both political parties are doing everything they can to disenfranchise one of the fastest-growing demographics in the country: Hispanics. While the GOP ratchets up anti-... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Study: In Drought Planning, Water Managers Should Look Further Back Than 1950s

  published Dec 21, 2011

  As we near the end of 2011, let us now look back on the year (without much fondness) and take stock. We racked up one of driest years in recorded history (more on that in a moment). The livestock and ... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  So, New EPA Regs Won't Cause Apocalyptic Blackouts in Texas After Allr

  published Dec 20, 2011

  Over the course of the last month, both ERCOT and the North American Energy Reliability Corporation have warned of outages as early as next summer, due in large part, they say, to new regs issued by t... More >>

• You Should Avoid Oak Lawn Ave. at the Moment

  published Dec 16, 2011

  If you're planning on traversing Oak Lawn somewhere between Cedar Springs and Maple, don't. Pictured above is the sedan that plowed into a utility pole not long ago. As I just discovered during the dr... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  As Physicists Near Discovery of God Particle, A Word With SMU Prof Involved In the Search

  published Dec 15, 2011

  You've probably heard that an international contingent of physicists in Switzerland is this close to identifying the Higgs boson, aka the "God particle." Currently, the Higgs is the theoretical mecha... More >>

• Mistrial By Google In The Case of The Ex-Wife After an Exoneree's Millions

  published Dec 14, 2011

  "Jesus didn't want us to have a trial this close to his birthday," Steven Phillips's attorney, Tom McKenzie, said yesterday. He was joking, we're pretty sure. His point: That the prospect of an ex-wi... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Exoneree's Ex-Wife Takes Him to Court For a Piece of the Millions He Got From the State

  published Dec 12, 2011

  Steven Phillips spent 25 years in prison as an innocent man for a string of rapes he didn't commit. He was exonerated in 2008 based on DNA evidence. He has always said life is much more complicated ou... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  EPA Report Ties Fracking To Groundwater Contamination in Wyoming. But What Does That Mean For Texasr

  published Dec 08, 2011

  For folks in Dallas, where the council-appointed gas drilling task force is running to stand still, or in Southlake, the subject of a recent cover story on towns grappling with urban drilling, this EP... More >>

• Report: Texas Power Plants (Well, Luminant's, Really) Biggest Emitters of Mercury in U.S.

  published Dec 08, 2011

  Emissions of cancer- and central nervous system defect-causing toxic air pollution put Texas power plants atop the pile of serial polluters, a report based on EPA data finds. Nationwide, pollution con... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  This Year's Drought Forced Record Cattle Decline Not Seen in Texas Since the 1930s

  published Dec 07, 2011

  Texas cattle country lost some 600,000 head this year -- a 12-percent reduction in the herd -- driven by a drought that withered grasses and baked river beds and stock ponds. It's the kind of en masse... More >>

• So How Is Prioritizing Undocumented Immigrant Deportations Goingr Suckily.

  published Dec 06, 2011

  It's been nearly six months since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton issued a memo to his subordinates, which we'll translate from bureaucrat-speak for you: Look, we got sca... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Energy Dept. to Texas: Chill Out. You Can Keep the Lights On And Still Meet Pollution Regs

  published Dec 02, 2011

  Ever since the EPA announced new pollution regs that would come down hardest on dirty power plants, there's been considerable Sturm und Drang from the industry, who've been making all sorts of dire pr... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  ERCOT Report Warns That Starting Next Summer, Texas Won't Have Enough Power

  published Dec 01, 2011

  On Tuesday we told you about a report from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation -- an entity tasked by the feds with ensuring the lights stay on -- that singled out Texas as a state tha... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Dallas-Fort Worth's Air Could Be Cleanest Ever By Next Summer. He Said Sarcastically.

  published Nov 29, 2011

  It was early November when watchdog group Downwinders At Risk found out that Dallas-Fort Worth had set off air-quality monitors more times than Houston in 2011. Yep, America's petrochemical hub violat... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  New Report Says That Texas May Struggle To Meet Peak Electric Demand By 2013

  published Nov 29, 2011

  Get ready for more rolling blackouts, because according to a grid reliability report, Texas won't have the juice to meet peak demands by 2013. The study, authored by grid reliability enforcer North A... More >>

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  COVER STORY

  Fear and Fracking in Southlake

  published November 24, 2011

  Thirty miles northwest of Dallas, there is a suburb the outside world scarcely touches. There is no evidence of recession here, no stagnating... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  UT Southwestern Docs May Have Found the Pathway to Revolutionary Cancer Treatment

  published Nov 23, 2011

  Researchers at UT Southwestern published a study in the journal Nature Sunday identifying a cancer-specific metabolic pathway that fuels only the growth of certain kinds of kidney and adrenal tumors. ... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Will Seth Winder Ever Stand Trial (Again) For Allegedly Killing, Dismembering Dallas Manr

  published Nov 21, 2011

  Denton County Judge Bruce McFarling declared a mistrial Friday when it was found that Seth Winder of The Colony -- who is accused of allegedly murdering and dismembering his lover in the man's Far Nor... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Breaking: Mistrial Just Declared in Trial of Colony Man Accused of Murdering His Lover

  published Nov 18, 2011

  His family, defense attorneys -- even the bailiffs and the transport drivers -- noticed something was different about Seth Winder, who is standing trial in a Denton County court for allegedly murderin... More >>

• In Day Two of Murder Trial, The Strange Stuff Found At Alleged Murderer's Campsite

  published Nov 17, 2011

  As if this case wasn't already weird enough, it got weirder on Wednesday in Denton County court. According to prosecutors, in September 2008 Seth Winder murdered his lover, a beloved, longtime Walmart... More >>

• At Opening of Dallas Murder Trial, Defense Pins Partial Blame on The First 48

  published Nov 16, 2011

  Sometime late in the night of September 3, 2008, prosecutors say The Colony resident Seth Winder, then 29, murdered his lover, dismembered his body, and hauled the pieces out to the dumpster of the vi... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Exonerees Settle Lawsuits Over "Unconscionable" Fees Charged by Attorney

  published Nov 11, 2011

  A lawsuit filed by three Dallas exonerees against their high-powered personal injury lawyer has finally come to an end after more than two testy years. The dispute was over fees charged for more than ... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Stephen Benavides, Protestor Accused of Assaulting Police, Says, No, the Cops Got Rough

  published Nov 11, 2011

  Stephen Benavides, an organizer with the United Steelworkers, was one of eight arrested Saturday at the Occupy Dallas protest at the downtown Bank of America tower during Bank Transfer Day, aimed at e... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  University of Texas Fracking Study: No Evidence That It Contaminates Groundwater

  published Nov 09, 2011

  The University of Texas released the preliminary results today of that comprehensive study on the controversial natural gas producing process known as hydraulic fracturing (or fracking), drawing no li... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Report to Higher Ed. Board: Politically Charged Curriculum Not Preparing Kids For College

  published Nov 08, 2011

  Get ready for remedial history, college-bound Texans, because the statewide blueprint that dictates what you learn in high school isn't doing you any favors -- a longstanding tradition in public secon... More >>