Industrials Sector

Turns Out, Cops Couldn't Find Eric Williams' Missing Getaway Car Because It'd Been Towed

When police officers raided former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams' Seagoville storage shed earlier this month, amongst the guns and other items they found a white, four-door Ford Crown Victoria that they were pretty sure had been the getaway car in the March 30 murder of District ... More >>

Arlington PD Answers All Your Questions About Its "Aviation Unit," Which Consists Entirely of Two Drones

The Arlington Police Department recently got permission from the FAA to use the two small, battery-operated drones they purchased last year using grant money from Homeland Security. Presumably, the drones will mostly be used to hover over Jerry Jones while he's at work, clipping him in the head with ... More >>

Arlington Police Now Have FAA Approval to Use Those Drones They Bought

Last month, we told you that the Arlington Police Department submitted an application to the Federal Aviation Administration in 2012, asking to please be allowed to use the two small remote control drones they bought. The drones were purchased for a little over $200,000 from Leptron Industrial Robo ... More >>

The Postal Service Reunion was Ten Years Coming. Do you Feel Old Yet?

If you are in or around your mid-twenties, this probably isn't the first time you've felt the cold hands of classic-rockdom closing around your neck. (For me, it was seeing a Garden State DVD on the bargain shelf at an FYE. And then, right afterward, it was thinking, "Man, I can't believe I used to ... More >>

The City Wants Uber, the On-Demand Private Driver App, to Get a Taxi Permit or Shut Down

Uber, the on-demand private-driver startup, was stirring controversy even before it launched in Dallas last fall. Local cab and limousine companies in particular were wary of the new competition, particularly since Uber considers itself a technology company and tends to ignore the onerous and costl ... More >>

The Widow of Gary Stouffer, Marine Killed in Veterans Day Train Crash, Sues Union Pacific

In 2010, Gary Stouffer was on a resupply mission in Afghanistan when the vehicle he was riding in was hit by a blast from an improvised explosive device. The explosion left the 37-year-old Marine with PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and anxiety disorders to go with the compression fractures in his nec ... More >>

Cabbies Say There's a Taxi Monopoly in Dallas, and They're Fighting to Break it Up

Jack Bewley and Jeff Finkel have spent the last several years methodically strengthening their position in the Dallas taxi market. Their company, Irving Holdings, was established with the merger of five local cab companies. In 2007, they brought Freedom, Eagle, and Jet taxi companies. Earlier this y ... More >>

U.S. Postal Service's Slow Demise Looks Suspiciously Like Deliberate Homicide

Not that we could know anything here at my house about a matter so remote and complex as the looming budget crisis at the U.S. Postal Service, subject of an editorial in today's New York Times. We did notice and observe here last March that it was way more difficult for us to get the postal service ... More >>

Irving-based ExxonMobil's Allegedly Ageist Pilot Retirement Policy Survives Federal Challenge

A six-year court battle waged by the feds against an ExxonMobil policy mandating the retirement of all corporate pilots at the age of 60 was dealt its second defeat in a Dallas federal court. The challenge, filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, characterized the policy as ageist and ... More >>

The Inland Port Can Still Win the Race for Jobs If We Don't Let Fixers Screw Us

Kasey Chambers On The Songs She Couldn't Fit In Her Storybook

Just over a year ago, we caught up with Australian singer-songwriter Kasey Chambers as she was touring behind her excellent LP, Little Bird. That album not only showcased original material, but a return to the folk-rock form she used to become a '90s country darling.

Atkins: Inland Port is Two Years Behind, Will Be Four if Nothing Changes

The Inland Port, the sprawling warehousing and transportation center meant to be an economic boon for southern Dallas County, has never really taken off. It opened in 2005 and has seen some development, but the project was stalled by a rocky economy and the bankruptcy of its largest property owner, ... More >>

That Dallas-Houston Bullet-Train Proposal Needs More Money Before it Can Start Costing Money

There was a lot of buzz back in May when a group led by the Central Japan Railway Co. and former Harris County Judge Robert Eckels announced plans to raise $10 billion in private funds to establish a bullet train linking Dallas and Houston. TxDOT, too, has been looking at high-speed rail, and is in ... More >>

Driver in DART Tollway Collision Wasn't Drunk, High, or On His Cell Phone But Was Fired Anyway

If you watched the footage of a DART paratransit van plowing, without so much as a hint of a tap on the brake pedal, into a line of cars exiting the Dallas North Tollway on June 29, you might have assumed the driver was a) not completely sober, b) sending/receiving sext messages or c) all of the abo ... More >>

Two Months and Counting: Affidavit Outlines Price Case and Sets Clock Ticking on Indictments

How John Wiley Price (Allegedly!) Sold Dallas

OK, I've got my idiot coloring book out again. Sorry. Just have to do this. I just want to help people not get totally lost in the delicious detritus of the FBI affidavit released yesterday in the Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price corruption probe. The details are delectable -- a web-work ... More >>

Dallas versus Sprawl! It's a Fight-to-the-Finish Cage Death-Match, Not a Church Picnic.

If The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Arlington sponsor a big seminar on regional cooperation, how many people at the seminar are going to come out against regional cooperation? Yeah. Not to be self-important or anything, but I believe that's my job, Pilgrim. So here it is: Regi ... More >>

Neither Snow Nor Rain nor ... Oh, Screw It. The Post Office is a Dead Letter

Train Museum CEO Says Rolling Stock Will Leave Fair Park For Frisco in Late April

Via.LaPrelle says the Big Boy's move in April has prompted calls from all over the world.​Got a call this morning from Bob LaPrelle, president and CEO of the Museum of the American Railroad, which, as you're well aware by now, is due to roll out of Fair Park to its new digs in Frisco. I'd left him ... More >>

The U.S. Postal Service Has Decided to Shutter Dallas's Main Processing Center After All

​We've known for months that the United State Post Office might shutter the Dallas Processing and Distribution Center on IH30; the USPS has been talking about doing it since, oh, 2009, for that matter. But today it's official: The postal service has announced that it's moving the Dallas Processing ... More >>

The News Tries to Edit Itself Out of Some Unhappy History in Southern Dallas

Ah, wait a minute, hold up one second. I spy a small but significant, history-bending, rug-sweeping moment occurring on this morning's editorial page of our city's daily newspaper. Let me take one minute to remind us what's under that rug. The Dallas Morning News has the whole trumpet section, the ... More >>

Survey Says American, Southwest Are the Top Two Carriers When It Comes to Losing Bags

​A Friend of Unfair Park passes along The Wall Street Journal's latest look-see at how well the big carriers handle passengers and their luggage, and per the annual Middle Seat survey the two locally based airlines don't do so well when it comes to getting your bags to your destination. As in: Ame ... More >>

John Wiley Price, West Turn Up For Tense Forum on Fate of Dallas's Main Post Office

Photos by Anna MerlanDallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price attended, but did not speak at, last night's town hall. He sorta mailed it in.​Technically, the U.S. Postal Service hasn't yet made a decision about whether it will close the processing center at the main post office near Sylvan ... More >>

A "Very Concerned" Mayor Mike Sends Letter to U.S. Postmaster General Over Possible Closures

​As it turns out, the United States Postal Service is looking at shuttering several post offices in the city -- not just the main processing facility on IH-30, but also its locations in the Earle Cabell Federal Building (known as "Station C"), the Belmont Finance Station on Greenville Avenue and t ... More >>

On Wednesday, Public To Be Told USPS Study Recommends Closing Dallas Main Post Office

​Here we go again.Ever since I read this last month, I've been trying to nail down whether the United States Postal Service intends to shutter the Dallas Main Post Office on IH30. I went so far as to contact Eddie Bernice Johnson's office; two weeks ago her spokesperson said, "We are going to hold ... More >>

Read TxDOT's Rationale For Need For High Speed Rail Between Houston, DFW (Or ... Not?)

Click to enlarge potential routes for high-speed rail routes between Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.​On Tuesday we noted that the Texas Department of Transportation is looking for a firm to ID would-be routes for a high-speed rail line between Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, using $15 million in Fed ... More >>

With $15 Mil From Feds, TxDOT Is Seeking Bids for Dallas-to-Houston High-Speed Rail Study

​It's been quite some time since last we discussed the long-proposed high-speed rail line between Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, which Jennifer Moczygemba, who oversees the Texas Rail Plan at the Texas Department of Transportation, called in April "definitely a priority" for TxDOT. This morning, s ... More >>

The Inland Port Is Still Screwed. Score One for the Perots.

​I guess if you took a pickax and a fire hose to it, you could have dug out a little bit of the truth from this morning's City Hall briefing on the inland port, but you needed to have your tall rubber boots on. Before we wade into the bullshit, please allow me to tell you what's really going ... More >>

Dntel: Brought To You By The Postal Service

The Perots Gave Willis Johnson's Wai-Wize Its Start, and It's Been Hot Ever Since

​Digging back through old files, I can see some patterns emerging that I missed back in the day. For example, the connection between Willis Johnson, the luckiest radio host in the world, and Ross Perot Jr. Johnson is a close personal and political associate of Dallas County Commissioner John ... More >>

Price Investigation's Royal Pains

"Queens for a day" could be a sign that feds are getting really ambitious.

As USPS Looks to Shrink Service, Three Dallas Post Offices Are in Danger of Being Closed

The Haskell Avenue post office in danger of being shuttered following USPS's study​This morning the United States Postal Services announced it's looking at some 3,700 retail offices that may be in need of shuttering to save dough. Because, per the release, "As more customers choose to conduct thei ... More >>

Mike Rawlings Vowed to Clean Up Dallas, But the Feds Are Spilling Dirt Everywhere

To keep his promise, Dallas' new mayor will have to distance himself from the city's political machine. Good luck with that.

Unintended Consequences, or: How Our John Wiley Price Reporting Helped Birth a Bad Bill

​Our coverage of the Inland Port scandal in Dallas may yet produce some new federal law. If it does, I don't think it's going to be anything we will be bragging about. Yesterday Wilonsky posted a 2-year-old deposition he found on the website of embattled Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley ... More >>

Oh, There's Former County Judge Jim Foster's Deposition ... On John Wiley Price's Website

From then-Dallas County Judge Jim Foster's Septemner 2009 deposition​Back in May '09 we ran a few pages from the first part of then-Dallas County Judge Jim Foster's deposition taken by County Commissioner John Wiley Price's attorneys concerning those "shakedown" comments Foster made to Schutze whi ... 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 >>

Fun With Audio, Part 2: EBJ and JWP Talk About the Inland Port, Kathy Nealy, Ross Jr. (and Me)

​This weekend I have been sitting around ruminating on the last three years of reporting I have done on the Inland Port story, which now seems to an element in the FBI corruption probe of Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price. By the way, I happen to know the FBI has been hearing about this ... More >>

Some SALT to Season Those Subpoenas

​So, the feds want Pettis Norman and Jon Edmonds to appear before a grand jury on July 20 -- can't imagine why. Oh, wait. My bad. And speaking of the Inland Port, for those who knocked off early for the Christmas holidays in '08, after the jump is a doc you might want to read (or re-read) this mor ... More >>

Watch Carefully as The Dallas Morning News Tippy-Toes Away from John Wiley Price

​If you are a regular reader of The Dallas Morning News, Dallas's only daily newspaper since 1991, and if you are following the federal corruption investigation of John Wiley Price, the county's most powerful black politician, then from here on out you need to put on your magnifying specs and ... More >>

You Are Now Free To Rock Across The Country: Motopony To Hit Dallas On Day-Long U.S. Tour

Motopony​Seattle indie-folk act Motopony just sent our way an interesting press release, in which they detail plans for a coast-to-coast US tour. The whole thing will take place in single day.With the help of the Love Field-based Southwest Airlines, which is currently celebrating its 40th annivers ... More >>

Suddenly, the Morning News Cares About Minority Neighborhoods

Anyone smell a rat?

The Word on John Wiley Price: Judas

​Southern Dallas, especially the ministerial leadership, seems to be pretty locked up behind mayoral candidate Mike Rawlings. In explaining that to myself, I do allow for Rawlings's charismatic personality and his track record on community issues. He's got things going for him. (Well, maybe no ... More >>

Feds Roll Out $15 Million to Begin Studying Feasibility of DFW-to-Houston High-Speed Rail

​About a month back we looked at docs the Texas Department of Transportation submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration in the hopes of landing some federal money dough for that loooooong-discussed Dallas-Fort Worth-to-Houston high-speed rail line. Long story short: The state wanted $18 mill ... More >>

Come Wednesday, Don't Worry About Those Fighters Overhead, Arlington. It's Only a Drill.

​Few weeks back we got a long, hard look at the Federal Aviation Administration's no-fly-zone for Super Bowl Sunday. Ah, yes, but what to do when someone decides to launch their seaplane or go hang-gliding anyhows? Well, of course -- North American Aerospace Defense Command to the rescue.But NORAD ... More >>

From Now On, Make Sure Your Contractor's Registered with City of Dallas. Or Else.

​Back in August we got a look at that city council briefing titled "Effective Business Strategies to Support Sustainable Growth," in which there were numerous new fees and rate hikes proposed by the ever-shrinking, oft-backed-up Sustainable Development and Construction department in order to "reco ... More >>

Why is American's Admirals Club Fare Not Fit For an Officer -- Or Anyone Else?

Kristy YangThe scotch is free once you get inside the Cathay Pacific Lounge in the airline's home of Hong Kong.​For those fortunate enough to have airline-club access this busy holiday traveling season, the question must be asked: Why is the food selection at DFW-based American Airlines Admira ... More >>

A Bad Day for the Rebel Alliance at Love Field

From a KXAS-Channel 5 video that follows after the jump​A Friend of Unfair Park forwards some raw, silent footage from KXAS-Channel 5 of an experimental plane that landed the hard way at Love Field earlier this afternoon. The video follows, and given the markings, odds are the pilot was shot down ... More >>

The "Pallet Wars" Rage On with Butter the Battlefield

​The recent announcement that scientists found flame retardant in butter sold at Dallas groceries has fed a firestorm in the pallet industry. A plastic pallet manufacturer this week filed a lawsuit against the U.S. National Wooden Pallet and Container Association (NWPCA), accusing the trade g ... More >>

Southwest's Flight Attendants Also Don't Much Care For TSA's New Screening Procedures

​Southwest Airlines's 9,400 flight attendants just sent word: They don't wanna be scanned. And they don't wanna be gate-raped.  That's the gist of the missive Transport Workers Union Local 556 President Thom McDaniel sent to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and TSA Administrato ... 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 >>