Domestic Policy

Obama, Bloomberg Groups Are Teaming Up for Dallas Gun Control Rally This Weekend

Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the advocacy group funded and founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is struggling to stoke the kind of grass-roots passion for gun regulation that has made its arch-nemesis, the NRA, such a political force. Organizing For America, the post-electoral version o ... More >>

Congressman Steve Stockman to Gunmakers: Come Check Out Texas

U.S. Representative Steve Stockman is not a subtle man. We could go so far as to say he has a flair for the dramatic. He is, after all, the man who brought Ted Nugent as his plus-one to the State of the Union address, and compared the Earth to a sort of fuel-filled water balloon. And even further ba ... More >>

A Majority of Texans Favor an Assault Weapons Ban, But Their Politicians Don't

Texas, the Second Amendment bastion of sport shooters, concealed carriers and Stand-Your-Grounders, also favors a ban on assault weapons by a surprising margin -- 49 percent to 41 percent, according to Public Policy Polling. Texans oppose arming school teachers (56 percent to 31 percent), but also ... More >>

Louis Gohmert Really Wishes Sandy Hook's Principal Had a High-Powered Assault Rifle

Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson was among the first to opine that the 20 children murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary on Friday were a testament to the need for more guns in schools, not fewer. That other pundits and politicians would deploy the same argument in the days that followed, casting even ... More >>

Farmers Branch Has Spent Five Years and Millions of Dollars Trying to Keep Out Mexicans. Is It Time for a Truce?

Class Wafare? Fine, Let's Get This Party Started.

The Republican presidential candidates all agree on one thing -- the same mantra between all their lines. They all want us to believe that the extreme polarity of rich and poor in this country is an expression of natural law. The super-rich just have to get super-richer. Everybody else, sadly, must ... More >>

Wherein Ron Natinsky Tries to Explain Why He Didn't Try Harder to Stop Last Year's Tax Hike

Photo by Sam MertenRon Natinsky​Last week, we revisited the Trinity River toll road and convention center hotel referendums with mayoral candidate Ron Natinsky because, well, there just wasn't enough space to explain it all in last week's cover story. Much like we quickly glossed over those is ... More >>

A Pro-Guns-On-Campus Buzz! (Someone Else Wrote It)

Concealed Guns on Campus a Fait Accompli?

Kunkle Says As Mayor, He Wouldn't Hike Taxes

​Last week, Ron Natinsky made it official, taking the missus down to City Hall on Valentine's Day to file his petition to run for Dallas mayor. This morning at 10 a.m., David Kunkle will follow in his footsteps, filing his paperwork with the city secretary after gathering enough signatures to get ... More >>

Two District 14 City Council Candidates Promise Not to Raise Taxes But Don't Have Concrete Solutions to Pending Budget Shortfall

James Nowlin​Late last week, we took a look at three of the five potential candidates for Angela Hunt's District 14 city council seat -- Jim Rogers, Vernon Franko and Brian Oley -- one of which (Rogers) said Hunt's decision to run for a fourth and final term caused him to put his campaign on h ... More >>

Mass deportation, strict border enforcement, amnesty. What will comprehensive immigration reform look like if the feds take action--or if they don't?

FAIR-y Tales

Russell Pearce and Other Illegal-Immigration Populists Rely on Misleading, Right-Wing Reports to Scapegoat Immigrants and Terrify Penny-Pinched Americans.

DOJ, FCC Settle With HP (For $16.25 Mil!) Over E-Rate Fraud In Dallas, Houston ISDs

Ruben Bohuchot​Back in June 2009, you may recall, the Dallas Independent School District and the U.S. Department of Justice settled up over the misuse of funds provided to the district for the feds' E-Rate program, which was created in 1996 to give "affordable access to telecommunications services ... More >>

If You Don't Want to Raise Taxes, Better Look At The Kind of City You Do Want.

Liveblogging Today's Council Meeting During Which It'll Vote on FY2010-11 Budget

Friendship-West's Dr. Frederick Haynes, a longtime Leppert ally, spoke in favor of a tax hike: "We cannot ride first class without paying for it."​Hey y'all. I rode the elevator up to City Council Chambers this morning with Carolyn Davis, who is doing this whole Jackie O thing in a fun-collared ... More >>

Doing the Math After Today's Tax Rate Vote

City of Dallas Facebook pageFrom yesterday's Pavaho Pump Station groundbreaking, though feel free to write your own caption​Didn't even get my print-edition column out the door this week before I got a major correction, and this one from a person who would know -- city council member Angela Hunt. ... 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 >>

Liveblogging This Morning's Packed, Star-Studded Budget Workshop at City Hall

​Bon matin, Mes Amis de le Parc Qui Est Unfair. Overflow crowd this morning at the City Council Budget Meeting in 6ES, and Tom Leppert, pin-striped as ever, has just told the packed house to sit tight while they figure out what to do with everyone. Atmosphere is stuffy and contentious -- this is t ... More >>

City Manager Mary Suhm: Call for Tax Hike "Pretty Universal" at Budget Town Halls

Sam MertenMary Suhm​"Do a tax rate increase." That's how City Manager Mary Suhm sums up the feedback from Thursday night's budget meeting at Edna Rowe Elementary. "That's pretty universal when we're at town hall meetings," she says. Despite the overwhelming number of residents pleading for ... More >>

The More Things Change: Yesterday's Council Walkout Brings Back Fond (?) Memories

​Fine print alert! When Mayor Tom Leppert tells you that yesterday's agenda item vote on the city tax rate didn't mean anything, he's got his hand deep in your pocket. It may be fine print, but ask Leppert why the vote was required by state law if it didn't mean anything. Yesterday's council walko ... More >>

Illegal Immigrants, Desperate To Find Work In The U.S., Risk Kidnapping, Rape and Murder From Those Smuggling Them Across the Border

In Battle Between Feds and States Over Arizona's Immigration Law, Guess Which Side Rick Perry and Greg Abbott Are On?

Danny FulgencioGovernor Rick Perry​Arizona's new immigration law has been a polarizing political issue to say the least, with President Obama challenging its constitutionality through the Department of Justice by launching a July 6 lawsuit against Arizona and Governor Janice Brewer. So it was ... More >>

FCC Tells FOX to Hand Over Indecency Complaints. Instead, It Sends 'Em to KDFW.

​Variety's reporting that the Federal Communications Commission is fining FOX $25,000 over the January 3 episode of American Dad titled "Horse Chores," in which -- as the trade's Ted Johnson puts it -- there's a scene "in which two characters engage in ribald dialogue, followed by a scene in which ... More >>

With Shifting Attitudes and a Burgeoning Medical Marijuana Movement, the Future Looks Rosy for Legalized Weed

Governor Perry Likes the Stimulus Package Now? What Happened to the Tea Party?

Danny FulgencioPerry fields questions from reporters today in Grand Hall at Union Station.The land of opportunity still exists in America, and it's in Texas. At least, that's what Governor Rick Perry told nearly 200 folks gathered this afternoon at Union Station for the Texas Economic Development Su ... More >>

Arlington PD Says It Doesn't Want to Be in the Business of Enforcing Immigration Laws

CopShop.com​While Irving makes the occasional headline with its use of the Criminal Alien Program -- which involves turning over to federal immigration officials people detained for any reason, even traffic violations --  top cops in Arlington have taken a stand against that approach. Instead ... More >>

Several Council Members Say That, You Know, a Teensy-Tiny Tax Hike Ain't a Bad Idea

​Speaking of the council and the budget and fees versus taxes ...As we mentioned yesterday, Tennell Atkins's budget amendment called for a 1-cent property tax increase -- which I didn't think would get terribly far, given council members, the mayor and the city manager's oft-repeated vows not to r ... More >>

DOJ to Dallas ISD: Pay Up. And Say Adios to $150 Million in Federal Funding Requests.

This just in from the U.S. Department of Justice's press department: The government and the Dallas Independent School District have settled their dispute involving the misuse of funds provided to the district for the so-called E-Rate program, created in 1996 to give "affordable access to telecommuni ... More >>

Says Rick Perry: I'm "Resisting Further Government Intrusion" and Saying No to $500 Mil in Unemployment Insurance

Just arrived in Austin, only to find in my in-box, oh, 'bout a dozen Friends' links to either Governor Rick Perry's speech down in Houston or the Burnt Orange Report's compendium of reactions to said speech. As you may know by now, the governor is saying no to more than $500 million in unemployment ... More >>

Dallas Fed Head Says of "Buy American" Clause, It's "The Crack Cocaine of Economics"

Dallas Federal Reserve president and CEO Richard FisherDallas Federal Reserve president and CEO Richard Fisher was on C-SPAN's Washington Journal this morning warning that the "Buy American" provision in the House's stimulus bill is bad, bad news. European officials said over the weekend they're ter ... More >>

Jeb Hensarling: Either the New Newt or Just a Baby-Faced Mutineer

Ask a Mexican

Hail Cesar, who was capable of changing his mind

Old-Time Religion and New Americans

Hispanic evangelical leaders join to push for compassionate immigration reform

You Know Who Likes the President's Immigration Reform Plan? Nobody, That's Who.

Here's a Tip For You

Rafael Anchia Wants to Kill Anti-Immigration Legislation Dead. Good Luck With All That.

Anchia to Tackle "Divisive and Misguided" Anti-Immigration Legislation

And Now, The Fake News

May I Say Who's Calling?

RIght Cross

Is George W. Bush a conservative? Author Bruce Bartlett doesn't think so,

and saying that cost him his job.

What's Left of the Dial

One nonprofit helped save radio. Sort of. For now.

Helter Shelter

The city's animal control efforts are running wild, but that's not the critters' fault. It's a people problem. The question now is, will Dallas residents pay to fix it?

Slaughterhouse Jive

Dallas-based Supreme Beef fought what it believes are unfair regulations, only to wind up on the USDA's killing floor

Taxing Situation

A tax-protesting CEO enlists his employees in the cause

Deep impact

A West Texas divorce case could soon change the nation's gun laws

Granny get your gun

Dallas' pistol-packing 'Second Amendment Sister'--63-year-old grandma Mary Thompson--takes aim at a million moms

Buzz

Daddy got his gun; Bronx cheer

The kids aren't all right

The Americanized culture of undocumented immigrants finds the doors to higher education closed

Busted

Even in these boom times, Dallas is broke, thanks to a city council that has been giving away the store