Email Author Sam Merten

Awards

• 2011 - National Council on Crime and Delinquency/Prevention for a Safer Society Award, published October 7, 2010

  "A Few Troubled Men"

• 2011 - Lone Star Awards, published February 4, 2010

  "Outlawed"

• 2010 - Lone Star Awards, published October 15, 2009

  "Guilty"

• 2010 - Lone Star Awards, published February 5, 2009

  "The Young and the Restless"

• 2009 - Katie Awards, published June 26, 2008

  "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

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2009 Stories by Sam Merten

• Houston Mayor Bill White is Running for Governor. Unless He Isn't. We Think.

  published November 26, 2009

  Around we go: He doesn't have Governor Rick Perry's awesome, awesome hair. He doesn't have Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's statewide name... More >>

• No, You Do It: The GOP Finds Yet Another Candidate Willing to Run for D.A.

  published November 19, 2009

  Stick it: The last time the Dallas Observer wrote about the troubles facing a local political party trying to draft a solid field... More >>

• Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison Are Locked In A Pitched Battle Over The Soul Of The GOP. They Are Also Running For Governor.

  published November 19, 2009

  As temperatures dip into the low 80s, providing a brief respite from the searing September heat, a crowd of people enter the side entrance of... More >>

• Spurs? What Spurs?

  published November 5, 2009

  While the Mavs already have an impressive 94-80 win against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers under their belts, knocking off the... More >>

• Texas GOP Shifts Even Further Right With New Chair Cathie Adams

  published October 29, 2009

  Adams' family: If you didn't notice when Texas Republican Party chair Tina Benkiser stepped down last month to join Governor Rick... More >>

• How the Feds Convicted Don Hill

  published October 15, 2009

  It's been described as the largest federal corruption case in the history of Dallas, but you wouldn't know it from the paltry number of people... More >>

• Dallas' Homeless Turn To The Bridge for Food, Shelter and a New Start

  published August 27, 2009

  A silver bracelet dangles from her wrist as she clasps her cell phone in her left hand. She wears sparkling gold sandals, which reveal freshly... More >>

• Seattle Showdown

  published July 30, 2009

  After sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays sandwiched in between two important series wins against the Los Angeles Angels, the Rangers seemed destined to... More >>

• More Cops Means Less Service?

  published July 16, 2009

  Dallas two-step: Buzz has been a crime victim four times in Dallas: one car break-in, two break-ins of a shed and one home burglary that... More >>

• Who Will Deliver the Coup de Grace to the Trinity toll road, the Corps or NTTA?

  published June 18, 2009

  It's still dead: When the mayor urges people to buy flood insurance, we get a little worried. It means the report by the U.S. Army Corps... More >>

• What Would Brian Boitano Do?

  published June 18, 2009

  Less than two years after Trey Parker and Matt Stone introduced us to the foul-mouthed Eric Cartman, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski and Kenny... More >>

• A Backward Way of Moving Forward on the Trinity

  published May 7, 2009

  Better late...: After the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its report on the city's levees in April, we were baffled to learn that... More >>

• "Who Do You Trust? | "Dirty Dozen,"

  published May 7, 2009

  "Who... More >>

• The Convention Center Hotel Vote is Not Just About a Building. It’s About a Mayor.

  published April 30, 2009

  It's another in a long line of sales pitches for Mayor Tom Leppert as he hawks his vision for a convention center hotel. Tonight the... More >>

• Roll dem bones:

  published April 2, 2009

  For someone who doesn't have any actual money, Buzz lately has been mighty interested—obsessed even—with the stock market. We check... More >>

• Buzz: City Council Member Tennell Atkins Needs Help with his Math

  published February 12, 2009

  And they're off: With the city council campaign season heating up, we thought we'd look at some of the campaign finance reports of the... More >>

• The Hapless Texas Rangers Turn to their Farm System

  published February 5, 2009

  It's a cold Thursday night in mid-January, and two police SUVs pull up in front of an Academy Sports and Outdoors store in North Richland... More >>

• Al Lipscomb's grandson LeVar “LD” Thomas seeks council seat

  published January 15, 2009

  Nearly nine years after he was tried before a federal jury on 65 counts of alleged bribery and conspiracy, 84-year-old civil rights leader Al... More >>

• Inside the DMN's Pro-Hotel Editorial

  published January 8, 2009

  Batty: Three days before Christmas, The Dallas Morning News gave its former parent company, Belo Corp., an early gift by... More >>

• Trinity River Corridor Project Creeps On, 10 Years and Millions of Dollars Later

  published January 8, 2009

  At the edge of the Commerce Street bridge, a sign at the city's Trinity Outlook encourages passersby to "watch our progress." But on this... More >>

• Prodigious Passer

  published January 8, 2009

  Despite a solid 51-31 record last year, the Mavs barely made the playoffs, earning the seventh seed in the Western Conference. They proceeded to... More >>