Austin American-Statesman

As Supreme Court Debates Gay Marriage, Texas Politicians Explain How it Violates God's Law

The attention of the country, or at least that segment of it that's politically aware enough to pay attention, is focused squarely on the U.S. Supreme Court,which this week is debating a pair of potentially momentous cases. Hollingsworth v. Perry, which was argued today, could do away with Californi ... More >>

Keeping Teen Offenders in County-Run Lockups Would Save Cash. Not Everyone's Sure It's Wise.

A new bill introduced in the Texas Senate would allow counties to open their own holding centers for juvenile law-breakers. Teenage offenders are currently held in lockups operated by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. Senate bill 511, authored by state Senator John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat, ... More >>

Austin Plastic Bag Ban Gets Under Way on Friday, With Many Austin-ites Acting Weird (In Favor) of The Ban.

Last Friday was the official dooms day for plastic bags in Austin. The City Council passed a measure that banned retail-level, thin, single-use bags more than a year ago, giving shoppers and store owners time to find alternative ways to get their goods home. See also: - If Dallas Wants to Ban Pla ... More >>

Dallas' Helen Giddings and Other Black Lawmakers Object to Security Measures at Rick Perry's Mansion

State Representative Helen Giddings was one of several Democratic lawmakers invited to the Governor's Mansion Monday afternoon for a reception hosted by the Texas Legislative Black Caucus. But she never showed up. Giddings declined the invitation to protest the requirement that she undergo a backgr ... More >>

Senator Dan Patrick's Charter School Love Bill Leaves Public Schools Holding the Empty Bag

Tale of two dailies today, I guess. Our own Dallas daily, the Morning News, takes a kind of hey-why-not approach to a bill introduced by Houston GOP state Senator Dan Patrick that would divert more money from state funding for public schools to charters. The Austin American Statesman, meanwhile, giv ... More >>

More and More, Texas' Professional Licensing Boards Are Regulating Workers' Private Lives

Over winter break during the 2007-08 school year, Robert Lange, then a social studies teacher at Williams High School in Plano, twice had sex with a high school student at a martial arts studio. The girl was 18, the sex was consensual, and she wasn't his pupil but a student in the Mesquite Independe ... More >>

The Way Dallas Deals with Prostitutes Could Become a Model for the State

In 2007, Dallas County came to the realization that throwing hookers in jail, as was the standard practice, was an expensive and not-very-effective way of addressing prostitution. So police, courts, and health providers teamed up to develop the Prostitution Diversion Initiative, a program aimed at t ... More >>

Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Has Found No Takers For Corporate Sponsor Program

In July, reeling from state budget cuts, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department came up with a surefire way to make a bit of extra scratch: corporate sponsorships. The proposal didn't include naming rights -- no British Petroleum State Park at Galveston Island, for example -- but companies who paid ... More >>

Texas Conservative Groups Are Dismissing a Republican-Backed School Safety Plan as "Just Another Tax"

On Tuesday, the same day two men opened fire at Houston's Lone Star Community College, a bipartisan trio of state lawmakers unveiled a plan aimed at reducing school violence. Dubbed the Texas School District Safety Act, the measure would allow voters to approve special taxing districts that would p ... More >>

Eleven Years Later After Making Prostitution a Felony, Lawmakers Realize They Made a Mistake

In 2001, the Texas Legislature passed a law that made prostitution a state jail felony after a third misdemeanor conviction. The measure was intended to be tough on crime and help clear hookers from Dallas truck stops. The law has done little to curb the sex trade, but it has sent many women to sta ... More >>

Republicans Begin Renewed Push For School Vouchers

State Senator Dan Patrick, a Houston Republican, fired something of a warning shot two weeks ago when he announced a renewed push for school choice, both in the form of vouchers and expanded charter offerings. "To me, school choice is the photo ID bill of this session," Patrick told the Houston Chr ... More >>

Domingo Garcia Calls Opponent "Errand Boy." Was That a Slur or Just Typical Garcia?

Domingo, Domingo, Domingo. You were named after the day of worship. Why do you always wind up using names against other people? Yesterday, state Representative Rafael Anchia jumped on Dallas congressional candidate Domingo Garcia for calling a black opponent an "errand boy." In a press release, A ... More >>

Deion Sanders' Charter School Now Accepting Applications for Students/Reality Stars

Kids walking the halls of Prime Prep Academy next fall might have a shot at television stardom because Deion Sanders, the school's co-founder, is working with entertainment exec Tracey Edmonds (with whom Sanders' ex-wife accused him of cheating) to make his school a reality ... show. That's right, a ... More >>

Top Chef To Cost Texas Taxpayers $400,000, Give Or Take the Bacon Budget

"Mmm. Taxpayer-funded chocolate is delicious."​For several weeks now, as Top Chef crews have bounced around the state shooting next season's Texas-centric version of the popular Bravo reality show, journalists and food bloggers have wondered: How much, if anything, did the state pay for the sh ... More >>

How Long Should Texas Docs Treat Untreatable Patients? The Debate That Won't Go Away.

Jordan Allen's case will become part of Texas' annual debate over medical futility.​Last week, just outside of Houston, a little boy's parents were scrambling. Doctors at Texas Children's Hospital had told them there was nothing more they could do for the boy, 14-year-old Jordan Allen, whose b ... More >>

In Legislature's Final Days, Lawmakers Extend Court Protections for Polluters

Rep. Dennis Bonnen​Amid these "late nights and high feelings" of the tail end of the 82nd Texas Legislature, House lawmakers took a little time to pay the bills yesterday, tying up one last niggling loophole that was letting property owners sue polluters that were contaminating their land. As it ... More >>

Among The Latest Adds To The Growing 35 Conferette Bill: Dr. Dog, Big Freedia, Dan Deacon, White Denim

​After last week's adds to Denton's upcoming 35 Conferette in March (Jessica Lea Mayfield, A Place to Bury Strangers, Nit Jewel) and the round of added performers announced prior to that one (Mavis Staples, Royal bangs, Reggie Watts, Damien Jurado) our take on the growing lineup card, as you might ... More >>

A Devil of a Deal? State Wants to Swap Much Land (and Money) With Local Homebuilder

Texas Parks and Wildlife DepartmentPart of the Devils River State Natural Area the state wants to swap for local homebuilder Rod Sander's land​On October 12, the Texas Park and Wildlife Department issued a press release that went virtually unnoticed at the time: The state's offering to swap the 20 ... More >>

U.S. Department of Transpo Forks Over $5.6 Mil to Study OKC-to-DFW High-Speed Rail Line

U.S. Department of Transportation​This morning, as expected, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood passed out $2.4 billion in funding to 54 high-speed rail projects in 23 states. Among the recipients: the Texas Department of Transportation, which'll take home $5.6 million intended to allow a fu ... More >>

Texas Oh Jew: UT Student Government Wants 2011 Red River Shootout Moved Off Yom Kippur

I went to a bar mitzvah in Austin two weeks ago, where I received this yarmulke -- perfect for next year's Texas-OU game!​A Texas Ex-girlfriend forwards along the link to a site called Move Texas vs. OU Weekend, which is a petition crafted by The University of Texas at Austin Student Government de ... More >>

Governor Perry Drops By East Dallas Gun Shop to Remind Us How Much He Loves Second Amendment, Hates Coyotes

Sam Merten​Gov. Rick Perry said concealed handgun laws have made Texas safer during a campaign stop at McClelland Gun Shop yesterday afternoon while receiving endorsements from the National Rifle Association and the Texas State Rifle Association. He also continued to milk his story about killi ... More >>

From the Right and Left, the "Texas Influencers"

Carol Reed​Many thanks to the several Friends of Unfair Park who've forwarded along Austin American-Statesman PolitiFact Texas's editor W. Gardner Selby's list of Texas Influencers -- which consists of the 50 most-powerful Democrats and Republicans in the state.Not all are presently working in Tex ... More >>

What Accounts For Recent Sharp Decline In Success of Statewide Wet-Dry Elections?

Courtesy the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission​The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission's Strategic Plan 2011-2015 isn't due to the governor's office till tomorrow. But I noticed that the Austin American-Statesman just posted an excerpt relevant to our November 2 beer-and-wine referendum, in whic ... More >>

The Walkmen, Other Acts Added to NX35 Bill

​This afternoon comes word that a handful of other acts have been added to the already stout NX35 lineup. Fat Possum Records' The Walkmen is the big name, of course. But others include DFW's own Trebuchet, Saboteur and Jack with One Eye, Austin's Pure Ecstasy and French duo Electric Electric.In ... More >>

U.S. Attorney's Office: State Rep. Terri Hodge Has Taken a Guilty Plea, Is Stepping Down

Sam Merten State Rep. Terri Hodge, a state representative no more​The story's circulating this morning that Terri Hodge is this close to pleading guilty in her involvement in the Dallas City Hall federal corruption case and is stepping down from the Texas House of Representatives. Unfair Pa ... More >>

Two Weeks Before Her Special Trial, a Preview of Judge Sharon Keller's Defense

Judge Sharon Keller​Yesterday's Austin American-Statesman provided a lengthy sneak preview of Judge Sharon Keller's defense in advance of her August 17 special trial: The Greenhill and SMU grad is going to claim the defense attorneys lied, maybe just a little but maybe a whole lot, about having co ... More >>

Two Ex-TABC Agents Warn: Don't Expect Much From That Apology or Internal Investigation

A Friend of Unfair Park forwards along this Austin American-Statesman story from yesterday, in which two former Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agents -- one of them a former Dallas captain -- warn that TABC Administrator Alan Steen ain't much good when it comes to following through with apologi ... More >>

After Years of Trying, Mother Can Sue State Over Son's Abuse at Denton State School

Mark GrahamBefore Haseeb Chishty was released from the Denton State School last year, his mother Farhat visited him nearly every day.Last year, Jesse Hyde wrote several stories for the Dallas Observer and Unfair Park about Farhat Chishty's quest for justice for her son Haseeb, who, till last fall, h ... More >>

Buzzkill: Senate Keeps Burleson Sex-Toy Crusader Off Pardons and Paroles Board

Guess this will be the last time we run this photo of Shanda Perkins.Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast sent Unfair Park a note to point out this "amazing" development from yesterday: Burleson's Shanda Perkins bid to become a member of the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles was killed dead in the ... More >>

State Senate Gives New "Pole Tax" a Whirl

Courtesy The LodgeThe Austin American-Statesman reports this afternoon that the state Senate has given its unanimous OK to new-and-improved legislation that revamps the contentious "pole tax" imposed upon, ya know, gentleman's establishments a couple of years back. The original legislation, which im ... More >>

State Judicial Conduct Commission Accuses Judge Sharon Keller of "Incompetence," Discrediting Judiciary

Judge Sharon KellerSo, back to Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Sharon Keller. But only because there's breaking news this afternoon: The Austin American-Statesman's gotten hold of a notice of formal proceedings from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which says that "Judge Keller's willful an ... More >>

What Might've Been, Longhorn Fans

In Downtown Austin, the Governor's Mansion Now Lies in Smoldering Ruins

Without Explanation, ICE Wants to Deport a Well-Regarded Local Imam

Waiting to Find Out Why Imam's on ICE

Service Employees Union Backs Obama, Hoping to Help in Texas

Making Book

Big Brothers, Or: Why Austin Wants to Be Like Dallas

Searching for Melton Barker

Hollywood Henderson Will Sack a Neighborhood Activist, If He Has To

The Hardest Way Possible to Get From Austin to Dallas

Austin Fights Back, Sending Famous Furniture Store to LFT

Stealing Stevie Ray

Observer, staff win eight Katie Awards

Scene, heard

Darlingtons bass-less again; Vibrolux takes the stage once again; Deep Blue Something cracks the top 50

Ten albums I played a lot in 1997

When is a bill not a bill?

When it's a recommendation, but still: watch out

Stuff it

State legislators agree on the issue of dead deer heads