Dallas County

Mosquitoes Are Already Testing Positive for West Nile

The West Nile virus is officially back. Public health officials got their first confirmation of that last week when mosquito pools in Richardson tested positive for the disease. Today, Highland Park announced a positive test of its own. Dallas County is already urging residents to use insect repella ... More >>

After Family Planning Cuts, More Than 17,000 Dallas County Women Lost Access to Care

In 2011, as we just cannot seem to stop mentioning, your state legislators cut $73 million from the state's family planning budget, instituted a tiered funding system designed to give family planning clinics any federal dollars dead last, and launched a weird war on the Medicaid Women's Health Progr ... More >>

Faced With Rising Teen STD Rates, County Health Officials Lobbying DISD to Jettison Abstinence-Based Sex Ed

Teenagers, volatile bundles of hormones that they are, are going to have sex. That's an iron law of nature, as unchangeable as the fact that lions like to eat zebras. It's also a fair bet that, unless they are taught otherwise, these teenagers are going to have sex in an completely unsafe and irresp ... More >>

The Dallas County GOP is Already Using Craig Watkins' No-Show as Fundraising Pitch

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins was scheduled to testify this morning at a hearing on whether he abused his office to perform a favor for a political donor. As you know by now, he didn't show up, explaining through a proxy that, though he was at work, he was simply too ill. It took Da ... More >>

Dallas County's Only Halfway House Could Lose its Home, So John Wiley Price Wants the County to Build a New One

The only halfway house in Dallas County occupies the cabana area of the luxury hotel-turned-county lockup on Stemmons Freeway. At any given time, the Bill Decker Detention Center houses 225 former Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmates, all sex offenders, trying to make the transition back to ... More >>

With Spraying Over, Dallas County Will Test Mosquitoes For Insecticide Resistance

The West Nile outbreak of 2012 isn't officially over, at least not according to Dallas County health officials, but it may as well be. There hasn't been a death reported in more than six weeks, the number of new cases is basically nil, and for most of us, the scenes of August nights spent barricaded ... More >>

The North Texas Tea Party Says Voting Machines Are Stealing Republican Votes

There's been a lot of talk this election season about the specter of voter fraud, the idea that the polls will be flooded by illegal immigrants, household pets and dead people (all left-leaning constituencies), thereby cheapening real Americans' votes. There has been relatively little concern expres ... More >>

Dallas County Has to Repay $214,000 Because its Deputies Lied About Working Overtime

Last September, the Dallas County Sheriff's Office began investigating what appeared to be discrepancies in traffic tickets tickets written by its deputies. Specifically, it looked at whether they had falsified information on traffic tickets written during officers' normal shifts to make it appear t ... More >>

Dallas County Got Out the Vote Today, But Republicans Say the Drive Targeted Dems

Today, in case you haven't been on Twitter, is National Voter Registration Day, in which volunteers around the country hit the streets and Internet to get people signed up to vote in November. It's an admirable effort, particularly seeing as, per organizers, more than 6 million people didn't vote la ... More >>

Dust Off Your Crossbow: For the First Time in Decades, You Can Hunt Deer in Dallas County

David Sierra isn't quite sure why the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department stopped allowing hunting in Dallas County. He's not even sure when. He's only been the agency's director of Region 5, which includes Dallas, for 21 years, after all. He does know that, come September 29, you'll be able to hunt i ... More >>

Dallas County Has a List of its 100 Drunkest Drunks, and It's Out to Get Them Treatment

If you're reading this, chances are you're probably not among Dallas County's "Top 100 Serial Inebriates," the recently compiled list of some of the area's most hopeless alcoholics. These aren't the people who overindulge on a Saturday night and have to sleep it off in the drunk tank. These are the ... More >>

Dallas County Declares State of Emergency, Requests Planes for Aerial Pesticide Spraying

Dallas County escalated its war on mosquitoes today, with County Judge Clay Jenkins declaring a state of emergency and requesting that five planes be made available from the Texas Department of Emergency Management in order to begin spraying pesticide aerially over North Dallas and the Park Cities. ... More >>

Let the Chemicals Rain Down: Aerial Spraying for Mosquitoes Now Definitely On the Table

Update at 11:57 a.m.: Dallas County spokeswoman Maria Arita tweeted a response to reports that commissioners are considering aerial spraying. Aerial Spraying for West Nile NOT BEING PONDERED by Dallas County Commissioners. About virus: cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/w... 1.usa.gov/Rik5P6— Dallas County ... More >>

Federally Mandated Improvements at Parkland Will Top $31 Mil

Parkland Memorial Hospital was almost shut down last year after federal inspectors threatened to cut off hundreds of millions of dollars of Medicare and Medicaid funding after finding "deficiencies that represent an immediate and serious threat to patient health and safety." Because of its size and ... More >>

County Blocks Access to John Wiley Price This Morning at Commissioners Court

Most Tuesdays when the Dallas County Commissioners Court ends, reporters throng the dais to pepper the commissioners with questions. The question that was on the tip of everyone's tongue this morning was "Hey John Wiley Price. Did you really embezzle and launder all that money like the FBI guy said? ... More >>

Have Babies and Young Children, Dallas? You Might Want to Get Vaccinated Against Whooping Cough

Cases of pertussis, widely known as whooping cough, are on a "modest" uptick in Dallas County, county health officials say. So far this year, the number of cases is higher than in 2010 and 2011. And with the death of one infant this year, health officials say it's "very important for all adults who ... More >>

Dallas County Does a Three-Fer in Exonerations

The number of convicts being freed after serving prison time for crimes they didn't commit keeps mounting in Dallas County, with Friday bringing a rare triple exoneration for three men wrongly accused of robbery. On November 17, 1994, five teenagers roamed the parking lot near the Eckerd drugstore ... More >>

Dallas County Constables, Commissioners Court Agree to End Federal Lawsuit. At Least For Now.

​Noticed on PACER this morning something that's gone unnoticed since its filing at the end of last week: That heated lawsuit pitting Dallas County constables against the Dallas County Commissioners Court -- the one involving allegations of retaliation and corruption, the one that dragged everyone ... More >>

After Judge Keeps County's Suit Against Mortgage Processer in Dallas, a Nudge to Settle

​It's been close to five months since Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins went after Mortgage Electronic Registration System over what Watkins claimed were "tens of millions in uncollected filing fees owed to the citizens of Dallas County." But since then little has been said about the s ... More >>

If Dallas County Officials Close Offices For Bad Weather, Jenkins Wants It Marked "Holiday"

​Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins was mighty proud of himself on February 1, 2011: While everyone else 'round town was bundling up and staying in thanks to the cabin-fever-inducing ice storm, Dallas County remained open for business. (No doubt Jenkins pressed ahead with commissioners court that mo ... More >>

Workforce Commish Sides With Fired Deputy Constable. Which Is Why Dallas County Is Suing.

Photos by Patrick MichelsThe Holy Trinity, when they broke the news that some deputy constables hadn't been doing their jobs, or so they claimed​Back in May, you may recall, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and commissioners John Wiley Price and Maurine Dickey went before the media to deeply, sinc ... More >>

World AIDS Day to Wrap Up With Speeches Downtown and a Service at Cathedral of Hope

​The World AIDS Day broadcast from D.C., featuring the likes of Presidents Clinton, Dubya and Obama alongside Bono and Alicia Keyes, is livestreaming here. Tune in for "the beginning of the end," a reference to breaking news that researchers are now a little bit closer to an AIDS vaccine. Tonight ... More >>

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Except For the 30 Percent of Dallas County Children Living Below the Poverty Line

​Shortly before Thanksgiving 2007, Timothy Bray and co-author Nathan Berg of the University of Texas at Dallas issued a report that hasn't aged a day since its initial publication: Access to Grocery Stores and Food Security in Dallas, which began the ongoing conversation concerning the so-called " ... More >>

UTD Criminologist's Pre-Trial Release Study Could Help Trim the Fat of a Bulky System

Via.​According to a New York Times piece published earlier this week, the population behind bars has more than doubled in the past 15 years. Best guess at present: 2.3 million Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving in the clink. And Robert Morris, a criminology professor at University of Texas ... More >>

Dallas County's Having Quite the Jewelry Sale

​Just in time for the holiday season: your opportunity to give a loved one, or yourself, something from the Dallas County Collection of Seized and Forfeited Jewelry. And it's quite the collection at that, with lots filled with multiple rings, watches, necklaces, bracelets and even collectable coin ... More >>

Our Gang: Welcome Dallas County Government, Where Interfering with the FBI is Part of the Job

​I think of everything the wrong way, from a skewed perspective. Who knows why? Maybe I got dropped on my head as a baby. But here's how I'm looking at this deal in which Dallas County Judge Craig Jenkins fired the security lady who wouldn't sweep for FBI bugs in the home of a county employee ... More >>

Dublin Donkey Rescue Facility to Take in Dallas County's Strays, Now "A Serious Problem"

​From time to time, as we noted in August, Dallas County takes to the Internet to auction off stray animals -- donkeys and mules, mostly, and the occasional horse -- found wandering roadways, usually after their owners have cut 'em loose. Dallas County Sheriff's Department Deputy Paul Stroud expla ... More >>

Pound Pavement for a Cure

You Know Who Really Likes President Obama's Jobs Bill? Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

​Speaking of President Obama's visit to Dallas yesterday ...Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins was among the D's who got to briefly meet with the president Tuesday. Which prompted an email sent out moments ago by Dallas County Public Information Officer Maria Arita, in which the attorney-turned-coun ... More >>

Before This Morning's Constables Hearing in Federal Court, Let's Review the Filings

​Today's The Big Day (well, all right, a big day) for Dallas County Constables Ben Adamcik, Beth Villareal and Roy Williams and many of the deputy constables who say Dallas County is eliminating their jobs because some of them blew the whistle on Dallas County Precinct 1 Constable Derick Evans and ... More >>

Craig Watkins Makes Good on Threat to Sue Mortgage Processor Over "Tens of Millions"

​Back in August, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said he was taking a long, hard look at Mortgage Electronic Registration System, which, as we noted at the time, was created in 1995 by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other financial institutions to speed up the recording and transfer of ... More >>

Dallas County Constable Ben Adamcik Is Soliciting For Whistleblowers' Legal Defense

Ben Adamcik​Maybe you read the piece in the paper over the weekend about how all those Dallas County deputy constables who blew all those whistles on Dallas County Precinct 1 Constable Derick Evans and former Precinct 5 Constable Jaime Cortes are scared of losing their jobs. They have good reason: ... More >>

It's Official: Toni Pippins-Poole Is Now Your Dallas County Elections Administrator

Photo by Sam MertenToni Pippins-Poole​Last night, Dallas County spokesperson Maria Arita sent word: Toni Pippins-Poole has been named Dallas County Elections Administrator, thus removing the word "interim" from her title. No doubt, longtime observers of county politics aren't stunned by this news. ... More >>

DA Craig Watkins Insists Mortgage Processor Has Shorted Dallas County "Tens of Millions"

​A Reuters story from last month tells you everything you need to know about Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, heretofore "a little-known institution in Reston, Virginia." Says the story, it's a 16-year-old entity created in 1995 by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other Big Banks intended to " ... More >>

Need Some Military-Issue Gas Masks? Because Dallas County Has a Whole Lot It Can't Use.

Dallas County/Lone Star AuctioneersOpening bid on these babies is $5 ... for the whole lot.​'Round the office we spent the last little while debating what we could do with 75 M17AZ gas masks, which Dallas County put up for auction this morning. Fetish club apparel? Food critic disguise? HYDRA Hall ... More >>

Clay Jenkins Sends a Message to Craig Watkins: Yeah, Hold Up on Hiring That Outside Firm

Photo by Sam Merten​Last night, my wife and I were discussing JWP, millions in uncollected bail bonds spanning centuries, Dallas County politics, Kathy Nealy's IRS woes as noted on WFAA's 10 p.m. broadcast, Craig Watkins and so forth. She said something I didn't quite understand. I corrected her: ... More >>

Before He Meets the Press Over Bail Money, Clay Jenkins Wants to Correct Some Things

Get your copy here. I may take mine to get it signed tomorrow.​So, let's work backward. On Sunday, The Dallas Morning News reported that "bail bondsmen owe Dallas County at least $35 million in uncollected default judgments, many dating back decades." Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, ... More >>

DA Watkins Says He'll Get a Law Firm to Collect That $35 Million in Missing Bail Bond Money

​No doubt you, the well-informed and engaged Friend of Unfair Park, are well aware that Dallas County's missing around, oh, $35 million that some bail bondsmen somehow forget to turn over to the county when their clients fail to show up for court. The Dallas Morning News had the story over the wee ... More >>

The John Wiley Price Affair: Suddenly, a Few People Are Looking a Whole Lot Smarter

​Last week I was talking to a very well-known Dallas television investigative reporter about the Dallas County federal corruption probe. I won't name him here, because it was a personal call to discuss something else. But he made a point that kept coming back to me all through the long holiday ... More >>

Dallas County Now Under 90-Day Burn Ban

​No doubt you're aware: This is fast becoming one of the worst droughts in state history -- No. 3 so far, at a cost of billions to farmers and ranchers. And save for this tease of "dissipating thunderstorms" moving in, or not, from Oklahoma, it ain't gonna get any better any time soon. Which is wh ... More >>

FBI Confirms: It's Conducting Searches of John Wiley Price's Office and Home Right Now

​Jim's on his way to Dallas County HQ at this very moment to watch with his own eyes as FBI agents search the downtown offices of Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, as initially reported by KTVT-Channel 11. The CBS station also notes that "federal investigators have also been dispatched ... More >>

Who Voted For Whom in Mayor's Race

​It's always fun to play around with Dallas County's elections website after a race. Above, for instance, you get a look at which parts of town went Rawlings and which went Kunkle. More fun (and dispiriting): the precinct-by-precinct breakdowns. Lotta zeroes and single digits on there.

Picking a Mayor on a "Slow Saturday"

Photo by Nick RalloToni Pippins-Poole, Dallas County's Interim Elections Administrator, earlier this afternoon​We're, what, nine whole minute away from our first look at early-voting results ... like anyone cares. I spoke with Toni Pippins-Poole, Interim Dallas County Elections Administrator, earl ... More >>

The Proposed Redistricting Map For Dallas County That Caused Maurine Dickey to Lose It

Click to embiggen the proposed Dallas County redistricting map​No doubt you've heard by now that this morning's meeting of the Dallas County Commissioners Court was interrupted by a Dallas County Commissioner who threw a tantrum that included name-calling (you ... you ... bobos!) and the ol' take- ... More >>

Dallas County GOP Will Have to Soldier On Without Georgatos on Leadership Team

Jason Villalba, a Haynes & Boone attorney, is the new Dallas County GOP vice-chair​Anderson Cooper, for one, will be disappointed, but Debbie Georgatos is no longer part of the Republican Party's local leadership team. The avant-garde filmmaker and would-be Beat poet has resigned her post "as ... More >>

Jenkins Wants Constables to Put Deputies on Leave, With Pay, During Investigation

Photo by Patrick MichelsFrom Patrick's multipart series "The D'oh Faces of the Dallas County Commissioners Court"​Patrick paid a visit to The Building Formerly Known as the Texas School Book Depository Friday, where Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and commissioners John Wiley Price and Maureen Di ... More >>

Day After Emmert's Elected Chair of Dallas County GOP, Georgatos Video Goes Viral

​So, yes, former candidate for Dallas County Judge Wade Emmert is the new head of the Dallas County Republican Party, having been elected by a vote of 140-95 at last night's special election. Upon his victory, Emmert tweeted, "I'm honored to have your trust as the new Dallas Co. GOP Chairman. Now ... More >>

Would-Be Dallas County GOP Chairs Square Off: "I Don't Want Dallas to Become Detroit."

​We never did talk to Debbie Georgatos about why she wants to become the next Dallas County Republican Party chair following the adios of Jonathan Neerman. No matter: After the jump, for those who have 10 minutes to spare, you'll find Georgatos and former candidate for Dallas County Judge Wade Em ... More >>

School Bus Ad Sales Picking Up in Dallas County

​No, that photo above is not a scene from Morgan Spulock's latest documentary. Turns out, Dallas County Schools has teamed up with ad agency Alpha Media to stick hundreds of vinyl advertisements on the sides of their buses, generating an expected $1 million this year. As next year's budget cu ... More >>

Woman Who Says Ex-Constable Cortes's Deputy Assaulted Her Sues County For $3.5 Million

Former Dallas County Deputy Constable Howard Watson​A woman who claims a former Dallas County deputy constable demanded sex in exchange for burying outstanding arrest warrants has filed suit against the county, claiming it failed to perform proper background checks on the deputy.In January 2010, a ... More >>