Subject: Kimberly Thorpe

• Dallas Observer's Parent Company Announces Pay Cuts and Layoffs

  Twice today I've been asked about several posts on The Latest Word, one of our sister blogs out of Denver, referring to layoffs and pay cuts taking place throughout the Village Voice Media chain. The Dallas Observer, of course, is among the 15 papers in the chain, formerly known as New Times Inc.Specifically, this is the post to which inquiring minds are referring, one that contains a memo that landed in our in-boxes on New Year's Eve in which New Times founders Mike Lacey and Jim Larkin announc

  January 6, 2009

• Athletes' feat? | Blowin' In The Wind | There Will Be Blood

  April 9, 2009

• SEC Says Texas Financier Sir Allen Stanford Swindled Investors Out of Billions.

  It didn't have to happen.

  April 9, 2009

• Craig Watkins Uses Dallas Bar Association Appearance to Make Case Against Budget Cuts

  Kimberly ThorpeDallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, addressing the Dallas Bar Association todayDallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins certainly likes to make an entrance, which isn't hard to do when you're 6-foot-5, star of a nationally broadcast reality mini-series, a recent guest on The View and the subject of countless gushing profiles for your office's work in helping to free the wrongfully imprisoned. So, today, shortly before he addressed the Dallas Bar Association, Watkin

  May 18, 2009

• This Morning, a Drive to Remember Fallen Police Officers Stopped at DPD HQ

  Kimberly ThorpeSome of the gang unit officers who served with Senior Corporal Norm Smith, who was killed in JanuaryEarly this morning, a Canadian police officer parked his Hummer H3 in front of Dallas Police Department headquarters on South Lamar Street. This was no surprise visit. A crowd of about 50 DPD officers and staff waited outside for Sgt. Steve Gibson to arrive. Gibson is on a "drive to remember" officers killed last year in the line of duty. This is the third annual drive, which covers

  May 7, 2009

• This Weekend, Dallas Police to Make Drunk Drivers an Offer They Can't Refuse

  Kimberly ThorpeMADD director Mary Kardell and Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle at this morning's press conferenceA word of caution before you head out for the long Memorial Day weekend: It's also No-Refusal Weekend. Which means? Well, if Dallas police pull suspect you're drinking and driving, you'll be stuck with a butterfly needle attached to a vacuum-packed container, and two vials' worth of your blood will taken and tested. And, no, you can't refuse the test; hence the name, as discussed in o

  May 21, 2009

• Says DNA Exoneree Jerry Lee Evans of His Freedom, "I Knew It Would Come One Day"

  Kimberly ThorpeSaid Judge Carter Thompson to Jerry Lee Evans, "It's the court's hope that your next 23 years are happier than the past 23 years."After spending 23 years in a prison cell for a crime he did not commit, Jerry Lee Evans's first order of business is a Big Mac from McDonald's. So said the man who, at a little after 2 p.m. today, was welcomed back to the free world by Judge Carter Thompson in Criminal District Court No. 5, which was packed with attorneys, family members, reporters and

  May 27, 2009

• Get on the Bush: Cindy Sheehan Comes to Town to Visit an Old Friend, Sell Books

  Danny HurleyIt was Bush-on-Bush action in front of John J. Pershing Elementary courtesy Cindy Sheehan and a band of protesters.We've got more photos from the protest in a slide show, coming soon.About 65 protesters -- and nearly as many members of the local media -- showed up at the southwest corner of Preston Road and Royal Lane yesterday at 4:30 to march with Cindy Sheehan to George W. Bush's house (or at least the barricades sealing off Daria Place). Sheehan wore a gray t-shirt and rolled-up

  June 9, 2009

• What Happens When You Kill Your TV

  Kimberly ThorpeThere are about 219 Victory Park jokes to be had here. So, have at it.At noon today in Victory Park, a group of enviro-activists dressed for Halloween dropped to the concrete to rather dramatically mark the end of analog television. The switch from analog to digital television was supposed to happen back in February but was delayed when an estimated 6 million U.S. household were unprepared for the switch. But time's run out: The flip was switched, oh, 'bout 90 minutes ago.As a res

  June 12, 2009

• The Night Before Their Trial, Don Hill and Sheila Farrington Talk to God in a Parking Lot

  Kimberly ThorpeIf nothing else, we now have a hundred new pictures of Don Hill praying, as he was tonight outside the Earle Cabell Federal Building with wife Sheila and friends.Former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill's public corruption case finally heads into an Earle Cabell Federal Building courtroom tomorrow morning, shortly before the Dallas City Council is sworn in at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center one mile away. But tonight, just outside the building on Commerce Street downtown, he go

  June 21, 2009

• Hill Gets a Second Court Date to Follow the Long, Hot Summer of a Public Corruption Trial

  Kimberly ThorpeSeriously, we have dozens of pictures like this one from last night's prayer vigil. And by the end of the summer, we'll have run every one.This morning, a Very Special Unfair Park Correspondent -- which is to say, Herschel Wilonsky, my dad -- found himself in U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn's courtroom for Don Hill's contempt of court proceedings. Lynn didn't rule this morning, except to say last night's prayer vigil didn't violate her initial gag order, "but she's not happy with

  June 22, 2009

• President of Paul Quinn College on the Loss of Accreditation: "It is Not Time to Write Paul Quinn's Obituary." Students Say: "It Sucks."

  Kimberly ThorpePaul Quinn College president Michael SorrellPresident Michael Sorrell of Paul Quinn College earlier this afternoon addressed a room full of anxious students, alumni and curious reporters regarding news that Paul Quinn College has lost its accreditation. The news broke yesterday after Sorrell received a phone call from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools "to inform me that they had voted to remove us from their membership," he said. However, Sorrell stated, he has yet

  June 26, 2009

• Before the Opening Statements, Sheila Farrington's Proposed Final Jury Instructions

  Kimberly ThorpeSheila and Don Hill at last weekend's prayer vigilMoments from now in U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn's courtroom, opening statements will be delivered in the public corruption case against former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill, his wife Sheila Farrington Hill, former Dallas City Plan Commissioner D'Angelo Lee and others indicted in October 2007. But per the judge's orders, Farrington's attorney, Victor Vital, filed on Friday her proposed final jury instructions -- in other w

  June 29, 2009

• Don Hill Files Motion to Dismiss, Claiming Government Withheld Exculpatory Evidence

  Kimberly ThorpeDon Hill and Sheila Farrington filed a prayer of their own in federal court yesterday.Late yesterday, Don Hill's PR man, Ken Carter, sent to media an objection filed in federal court in which the former Dallas mayor pro tem and his wife, Sheila Farrington, want U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn to keep from the public's prying ears the feds' "audio-visual evidence" against the two in the public corruption case set to go to trial on Monday. Reads the important part of the legal doc:

  June 26, 2009

• Just Say, 'No, Thank You | Buzz

  July 2, 2009

• A Week After Losing Its Accreditation, the Fate of Paul Quinn College Still Up in the Air

  Kimberly ThorpePaul Quinn College president Michael SorrellMore questions than answers remain about the future of Paul Quinn College a week after its president announced the institution's loss of accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Michael Sorrell last Friday explained to gathered students, alumni and reporters that he would be unable to discuss specifics until he received a formal letter from SACS detailing its decision. Sorrell said only that college officials

  July 3, 2009

• Just Say, 'No, Thank You | Same old Song And Dance | Jungle Seizure

  July 16, 2009

• Third Time's Not a Charm for Fired Dallas Cop. Also: Bolton Won His Suit Against Dallas?

  Kimberly ThorpeDPD Chief David Kunkle testifying today at Fernando Perez's administrative reinstatement hearingThe hearing for once, twice, three-times-a-fired-Dallas cop Fernando Perez just wrapped -- and Administrative Law Judge Willie Crowder upheld the termination. And thus ends the tale of Fernando Perez, who opted to hold the hearing behind closed doors when Unfair Park showed up at City Hall for a progress report earlier this afternoon. (So happens that we showed up just as Dallas police

  July 20, 2009

• How a Local Rally For Obama's Health Care Proposal Turned Into a Rally Against It

  Kimberly ThorpeQ Coleman, a Dallas Tea Party member and one of those who outnumbered the MoveOn.org'ers at Senator Cornyn's office today Local MoveOn.org members had penciled in on today's schedule a protest in front of Senator John Cornyn's Spring Valley Road office, during which they had hoped to pressure the senator to support President Barack Obama's public health care legislation. But when Paula Anderson, a MoveOn.org member and spokeswoman, showed up at 11:30 a.m., she found another c

  July 23, 2009

• This American Life's Ira Glass Points Toward the "Wide-Open" Future of Journalism

  Kimberly ThorpeThis American Life's Ira Glass signed books and DVDs for Mayborn'ers late into the night Saturday in Grapevine.​For Ira Glass, the 50-year-old host of Chicago Public Radio's This American Life, doing radio is like talking on the phone to somebody late at night. "There's an intimacy to just hearing someone's voice," said Glass, Saturday's keynote speaker during the University of North Texas's fifth annual Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. He began his address with the light

  July 27, 2009

• Job Hunting, One Dallas Intersection at a Time

  Kimberly Thorpe​Kwaku Twumasi had been out of work for seven months when he decided to try a new approach to job hunting -- right, the very one you see above. The 34-year-old SMU Cox School of Business graduate had exhausted the more traditional routes of job scouting, like mailing resumes and networking with fellow alum. Nothing had worked.He said to himself, "How can I get myself to be noticed? I don't need 50 jobs. I just need one." So he began driving around Dallas in his '98 Tahoe until t

  July 29, 2009

• Last Night, Pete Sessions Turned Health Care Debate Into an Easy-to-Swallow Pill

  Kimberly Thorpe​The debate surrounding the proposed health care bill can seem distant. The bill is some 1,000 pages. Those who claim to have read it become experts either for or against the legislation. But last night, a cherry-faced, white-haired politician successfully tied this unwieldy document to a singular concept his constituents can really get behind: freedom."Freedom will be lost if we have a government that tells us how to do everything," said Republican Congressman Pete Sessions las

  August 6, 2009

• Hay Now: In Dallas, a South-Central Texas Ranch Hand Got Tumped Over and Pissed Off

  Kimberly Thorpe​Anyone who's driven south of town knows most of the state's suffering from a severe drought, especially south-central Texas. And without water, there can be no hay. So Monday morning before dawn, a ranch foreman from Harwood headed north to Bonham to buy some for the cattle and other farm animals he's raising on a 450-acre property.Joe Parish, 52, had loaded up his truck with 14 bales of hay by the afternoon. So he began the six-hour drive back home. But he got turned around ap

  August 11, 2009

• This Side of the Highway's Grass May Be Greener, But Is It Edible?

  Kimberly ThorpeThe bountiful harvest along 635.​ Since so many of you were wondering, we're passing along word the Dallas District Office of Texas Department of Transportation is checking to see if the grass growing on the side of the highway is viable for livestock feed. After we wrote about this rancher who drove six hours north to buy bales of hay for his cattle because of the severe drought in south-central Texas, we wondered about the grass growing near the intersection of eastbound

  August 13, 2009

• Paul Quinn's President is Defiant in Wake of Ruling: "There is No Doomsday Scenario."

  Kimberly ThorpePaul Quinn College President Michael Sorrell​Turns out, Paul Quinn College President Michael Sorrell was available to talk to us today, following the news that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools refused to reinstate the the 137-year-old institution's accreditation. Not surprisingly, Sorrell was defiant in the wake of the decision: "When we went down this path, we knew that this was a possibility," Sorrell says, referring to a possible date in federal court, should

  August 24, 2009

• Major League Gamers Are Back at the Hilton Anatole, and They Ain't Playing Around

  Kimberly Thorpe"James ClouD," left, with Major League Gaming competitors Michael Green and Brenna Pierson, both 24​The Major League Gaming Pro Circuit has rolled into Dallas: Yesterday, scores of gamers (and their parents) checked into the Hilton Anatole, where the competition is being held this weekend for the third year in a row. I know this only because I ran into a group of gamers last night at Victory Park Liquor on Ross Ave. -- I was picking up wine; they, beer. One of their lot, a fello

  August 28, 2009

• Dallas's Police Car of the Future?

  Kimberly ThorpeCheck out more shots of this cruiser of the future in our slide show.​A few years down the road, you just may get pulled over by a Dallas Police officer driving this hot new number. If nothing else, it's on the DPD's wish list -- appropriate in the hometown of RoboCop.The first purpose-built police car is on a national tour and stopped this afternoon inside the Dallas Convention Center to see if DPD might be interested. And, indeed, they are. "Oh, heck, yeah," said Lt. A.J Crawf

  September 2, 2009

• Far as Mayor and DART Prez Are Concerned, the Green Line's All About Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

  Kimberly Thorpe​Mayor Tom Leppert and other city officials got their first ride on the much-anticipated Dallas Area Rapid Transit Green Line this morning. The first four stops on the $1.8 billion, 20-station, 28-mile line will officially open Monday -- following tomorrow's Super Saturday spectacular at the MLK Jr., Fair Park, Baylor University Medical Center and Deep Ellum stations. The politicos and accompanying media boarded at Victory Station for the quick ride to Fair Park, where U.S. Sena

  September 11, 2009

• Mayor Tom Leppert: It Will Be "a Journey" to Lure Businesses to Downtown Dallas

  Photos by Kimberly ThorpeMayor Tom Leppert shows off an iPhones he's sending as move-to-Dallas enticements. But who's "Jeffrey"?​Speaking of Mayor Tom Leppert and his sales pitching ...Today at the Dallas Regional Chamber luncheon at the downtown Sheraton, the mayor gave his State of the City address, which more or less consisted of a show-and-tell: He told the audience -- businessmen and elected officials, mostly -- how he's wowing and wooing outsiders to downtown, then showed them the iPhone

  September 15, 2009

• Ask a Mexican | Buzz | Death Becomes Him | Addition by Subtraction | Jumbo Jerry

  September 24, 2009

• This Is Your Brain's Health Center

  Kimberly ThorpeOh, so this is what they mean by "Bush's brain."​So, you're busy reading this blog at your desk (or on your phone ... at a stop light ... or in the HOV lane). At the same time you're replying to an e-mail, checking your voice mail, answering a coworker's question and doing whatever it is you do to make a living when you're not skipping work on a day like this. Bet you're pretty proud of your ability to multitask.Don't be. You may have a good brain, but it's not that good. In fac

  October 2, 2009

• Dallas City Hall Needs a Bike Rack

  Photos by Kimberly ThorpeJason Roberts, organizer of today's bike ride to City Hall, and his official proclamation​This morning, Angela Hunt made a discovery: Dallas City Hall has no bicycle rack. "It's nuts!" said Hunt, who was standing with other bikers on a chilly morning in the plaza. "We're going to get us some bike racks for City Hall if I have to buy them myself." More than 100 musicians, artists, activists and city councilpersons rode to City Hall on their bicycles from Union Sta

  October 7, 2009

• State of the DISD Address, or: You Can't Have the Good Without Some of the Bad

  Kimberly ThorpeAt the Belo Mansion this morning, Michael Hinojosa touched on everything from educational gains to the juvenile curfew.​Last time we checked, there wasn't much to laugh about when it came to the state of public education in Dallas. But leave it to Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa to at least try to insert some humor, even at his own expense. This morning Hinojosa gave the "State of the District" address at the seventh annual Symposium on E

  October 14, 2009

• Getting Educated at the Policy Boot Camp

  Photos by Kimberly Thorpe​It doesn't sound like a buzzword or a catch phrase -- at least, not like "Obamacare" or "Socialism." But heading into the next election season, keep an eye out for it: "educated voter." That was the phrase being bandied about Saturday, when Unfair Park headed to Lakewood Theater for the founded-by-Dick-Armey Institute for Policy Innovation "Policy Boot Camp," sponsored, in part, by the Dallas Tea Party.The event promised to teach the 400 attendees -- at $30 a he

  October 19, 2009

• When the DEA Busted Up La Familia, They Hauled In Plenty of Guns, Drugs and Dough

  Photos by Kimberly Thorpe​You're looking at 220 pounds of methamphetamine, 4.5 kilos of cocaine and $660,000 in cash; there was also quite the assortment of machine guns hauled in. The whole stash was seized in North Texas yesterday from more than 80 members of a violent Mexican drug cartel known as La Familia.A little while ago, federal, state and local authorities stood behind the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Dallas Division, James Capra, as he commended the various agencies

  October 22, 2009

• Today, Two More Wrongly Imprisoned Men Took Their First Steps as Free Men

  Photos by Kimberly ThorpeClaude Simmons and Christopher Shun Scott outside the House of Blues, shortly after their release from prison today. Check out more photos here in our slide show.​The courtroom was filled with tears, then cheers: Two men who spent 12 years in prison for a crime they didn't commit went free today. And while Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins believes this a defining moment for his office and a turning point for Dallas County, 54-year-old Claude Simmons Jr. an

  October 23, 2009

• Inside a Santeria Feast Day

  Kimberly ThorpeA suburban Dallas Santeria feast ceremony​Santeria is a religion practiced by one to five million people in the United States; still, because of its clandestine nature, estimates of practitioners of the Afro-Cuban religion vary widely. Some Euless residents were shocked to learn that the religion was practiced in their neighborhood -- especially the part about animal sacrifice. A nearly three-year legal battle between Jose Merced and the city of Euless ensued, which helped lead

  October 25, 2009

• Will There Be Life in the Old West End Marketplace? Well, Yes and No.

  Photos by Kimberly Thorpe​Usually there's nothing to see at the locked-up West End Marketplace save for the giant cowboy-boot-wearing lizard, a remnant from Planet Hollywood days, which ended in 2001. And he's seen better days -- so too has his tail, the tip of which has vanished. Today, though, we saw a rare sight in that part of downtown: people. Which is to say, a person. Tom Persch, vice-president of asset management for ECOM Real Estate, walked briskly in and out of the building, too

  October 29, 2009

• DCVB CEO Proposes a Sort of "Hospitality Tax" to Fund Marketing City, Convention Center

  Kimberly Thorpe Mayor Tom Leppert at the DCVB meeting this morning. In case you couldn't tell who this is.​The annual meeting of the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau kicked off with drama and class -- a few notes played on a grand piano, a few notes sung from an opera. If you're going to take in a meeting at the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, might as well not waste it. But five minutes later the sturm und drang died down, and it was back to Big Business.This was, of cours

  October 30, 2009

• If They Can't Get People to Come to Victory Park, Well, There's Always Cattle

  Photos by Kimberly ThorpeWhatever you do, do not look at the video board behind you.​On my commute to work this morning, I noticed something peculiar about Victory Park Plaza. Standing over the dull pavers, corralled Longhorns grazed on a bit of straw, while two men on horseback watched over. Turns out, it was a promotional stunt for the Texas Stampede rodeo scheduled for the AAC November 13 and 14. The money raised will go to Children's Medical Center. "We brought nine Longhorns this year

  November 4, 2009

• A Call for a Justice Revival from Dallas Market Hall Keeps the Faith Despite Low Turnout

  Photos by Kimberly ThorpeA gathering of local religious leaders and Sojourners staffers kicked off last night's Justice Revival at Market Hall.​It's not an uncommon scene: A Christian pop band plugs in and coos about Jesus's love to the faithful flock, which sways with arms raised to the heavens. Last night, that scene replayed itself in Dallas as Sojourners, the Washington D.C.-based social ministry, kicked off its Justice Revival event. The three-day gathering is the baby of Rev. Jim Wal

  November 11, 2009

• Bodies to Hit the Floor in the Old West End Marketplace Beginning Saturday

  Photos by Kimberly ThorpeDr. Roy Glover, chief medical director and spokesperson for Bodies: The Exhbition. You can check out more photos in our slide show.​You shouldn't be grossed out by the cadavers and bones on display at the new Bodies: The Exhibition, which has already taken over the first floor of the former West End Marketplace, now known as 603 Munger St. The bodies are years -- and multiple treatments -- removed from natural death. They look like plastic.We recommend you pick up an a

  November 18, 2009

• On Its 37th Anniversary, We Remembered One Thing: Spaghetti Warehouse Is Still Open!

  Kimberly ThorpeIf you haven't been to the Spaghetti Warehouse in a while, it looks exactly as it did the last time you were there.​The Spaghetti Warehouse celebrated its 37th birthday on Wednesday with an all-day draft special and a Beatles cover band -- and, if you were born in 1972, a slice of cake was on the house. Granted, 37 isn't exactly a round number. And Wednesday isn't exactly the most happening of nights in the West End (where, come to think of it, 2009 isn't exactly the most happen

  November 19, 2009