Midlothian

American Lung Association: Dallas' Air Is Really Dirty, and It's Gotten a Bit Worse

First, the good news. According to a report just released by the American Lung Association, the air in Dallas-Fort Worth has gotten considerably cleaner in recent years. The average number of days with unhealthy levels of ozone has been cut in half over the past decade, and the concentration of harm ... More >>

Exclusive Premiere: The new Single from Tunk, Quietly One of the City's Best Rappers

Kevin "Tunk" Arradondo is not afraid to tell you that he's been broke all of this life, and on his latest mixtape, Direct Deposit, he does many times. "I'm not tryin to sit here and lie on the record. Sooner or later that can be your downfall," says the 23 year old Midlothian resident, "I'm the ba ... More >>

Get to Know Your 2012 DOMA Best Jazz and Latin Nominees

Leading up to our November 10 showcase, we'll be getting you familiar with some of our Dallas Observer Music Awards nominees, either via past features we've done on them, or new ones. You can vote for your favorite acts, venues and more right here. Best Jazz Act Damon K. Clark Damon K. Clark might ... More >>

The EPA Wimped Out on Cement Plants, but the Fight Continues in DFW Next Week

Just south of Dallas along Highway 67 in Midlothian is perhaps the country's largest concentration of cement plants. TXI, Holcim, and Ash Grove all operate facilities within a couple of miles of each other, and the emissions they pump into the air tend to waft over Dallas when the winds are right, a ... More >>

Small-Town Muckraker Joey Dauben Will Run the World Some Day. Just Ask Him.

In the little towns outside of Dallas, publisher and aspiring politician Joey Dauben is on a crusade to expose abuses of power, civic mischief and -- most of all -- himself.

Activists Hail Dallas County Commissioners Court For Demanding State, Feds Clear the Air

​Anti-gas drilling activist Raymond Crawford sends word this morning: Moments ago the Dallas County Commissioners Court voted to adopt a resolution demanding the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency do something about cleaning up Dallas's air. Long ... More >>

Maybe City Council Should Have Asked Some Questions Before Taking Drillers' Money.

More to Read With This Week's Feature on Al Armendariz, the Environmentalist and Engineer in the Middle of State Leaders' Fight with the EPA Over Texas Air.

​This week the Paper Version of Unfair Park's cover is a profile of Al Armendariz, who took a leave from his gig as a Southern Methodist University engineering professor to run the Environmental Protection Agency's regional office in Dallas, stepping right into a simmering fight between the agenc ... More >>

RIP: David Milson

​Despite another brave battle, cancer won again yesterday. Back in July I told you about friend and fantastic basketball coach David Milson, one of the happiest people I ever did meet. Lung cancer finally got the best of him, as the former Cedar Hill High School basketball coach has pass ... More >>

Dallas EPA Office Agrees With Downwinders: TXI's Request to Burn Car "Fluff" Is Toxic Stuff

Courtesy Downwinders at Risk​A couple weeks back we ran that Downwinders at Risk ad taking the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Governor Rick Perry to task for "conspiring" to keep out of sight TXI's request to burn plastic trash and so-called "auto fluff" (such as "all the non-steel ... More >>

Downwinders at Risk Launches First-Ever TV Campaign Against TXI, TCEQ and Rick Perry

Two months ago, TXI made a big deal out of shutting down four wet-process cement kilns in Midlothian -- a move hailed by Jim Schermbeck, head of Dallas-based Downwinders at Risk, as "the culmination of a 21-year fight that began in 1989 by a group of residents who found that burning hazardous waste ... More >>

David Milson: Bad News For a Great Coach

I had a couple people recently make fun of the fact that I wear a Livestrong bracelet. "Those are out of style," the jab went. To some it's a fad I guess. But to me it's a reminder of a couple people who are - fashion trends be damned - still battling cancer. Unfortunately, I've got anoth ... More >>

Up With People

Clean-Air Fund to Stop Funding Natural Gas Projects Till Industry Cleans Up Its Act

Click to expand this map provided last week by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality​Way back in '97, and again last June, we told you the story of Sue Pope -- a Midlothian rancher who became legendary for taking on pollution-spewing TXI -- and the genesis of the fund named in her honor, w ... More >>

Disney Investment Firm Says Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck Were Elected to TXI Board

​Last November, Walt Disney's nephew (Roy Disney) and the Disney family's investment firm (Shamrock Holdings) bought a 5.5 percent stake in Mockingbird Lane-based concrete maker Texas Industries, Inc., which, till just recently, wanted to burn tires down in Midlothian in order to fuel its kilns. ( ... More >>

Ash Grove's Determined to Force Plano, At Least, to Buy Its Midlothian-Made Cement

​Back in December, we mentioned that Kansas-based Ash Grove Cement Company -- which operates a cement-manufacturing plant in Midlothian -- filed a massive lawsuit against Dallas, Plano, Fort Worth and Arlington, among others, in which the company claimed that those cities' decision to purchase cle ... More >>

Strange and Passioniate Emissions From Yesterday's EPA Cement Kiln Hearing

Alexa SchirtzingerIf this picture were at all legible, you'd see Deirdre Tinker testifying while dressed as a cement kilnAmong the first 60 commenters at yesterday's public hearing on proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulations intended to reduce emissions from cement kilns, there was obvi ... More >>

Don't Want TXI to Burn Tires in Midlothian? Too Bad. TCEQ Doesn't Wanna Hear About It.

In April, public ire rose when Texas Industries scored a 10-year air permit renewal -- no public comment period required -- for its notoriously toxic Midlothian cement operation. The renewal came with one condition: TXI's cement kilns, the only ones in North Texas authorized to burn hazardous waste, ... More >>

For a Second Year, the Sue Pope Fund Will Dole Out Grants to Folks Who Can Clear the Air

Katy HubenerIn a small, bright room at the Center for Community Cooperation this morning, Katy Hubener, the grant coordinator for the Sue Pope Fund, officially announced $1 million available in funding for new clean air projects in North Texas. The fund was established in 2005 in honor of Sue Pope, ... More >>

Whitt's End

Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End: *I got $1 for the first person who can show me - like Tony Romo did last week - any time that Terrell Owens has ever uttered the phrase: "This one's on me." Owens has every right to be jealous of Romo ... More >>

Kick in the Ash: Cement-Maker Takes Dallas, Tarrant Counties to Court

The day before Thanksgiving, Kansas-based Ash Grove Cement Company filed a suit against, among others, the City of Dallas, claiming that the city's desire to go green will take the green right out of Ash Grove's wallet. The lawsuit, which also names Plano and Fort Worth and Arlington and Tarrant Cou ... More >>

Sexy Things|Cough, Cough

Green Cement Plants Could Mean Cleaner Air and Lower Costs

Economic pressure from local cities helps clean up smoky kilns

Way Up in The Air in Their Beautiful Corporate-Sponsored Balloon

Airheaded Fun

Wonders a Downwinder: A Bad Wind A-Blowin' In From Midlothian?

Divide and Conquer|Disgusting Bleeding Hearts

TXI: Guilty. Now, Hand Over $20 Million.

Re: Sam Coats' Concrete Problem

Sam Coats' Concrete Problem

Summerall in Mesquite

Re: A Soldier Dies in Iraq on Christmas

No Child Left Behind

War and Peace

Chief Sitting Bull

The toughest Dallas cowboys don't wear helmets

What, No Kenny Wayne Shepherd?

Raising Midlothian

Odds & Ends

Fry Street Fair returns to Denton; Braidy Bingham is a teen titan; and Lizard Lounge offers reward for burglary information

Sum 36

DV8 could be the standout at the North Texas New Music Festival

Summer Lovin'

It's a good day, sunshine

Long Live the Poison Pen

There are two kinds of critics: those who criticize, and those who don't

Letters

A Word From Our Sponsor; Gone, Not Forgotten; Friends in Weed

Letters

Judging Joe Kendall; Elian's kidnapping; Clearing the air; Chaos on Lower Greenville

Bottom of the ninth

Permit hearings begin in TXI's quest to become the nation's largest toxic waste incinerator

Letters

Letters

Something In The Air

Downwind of TXI's Midlothian cement plant, people and animals keep getting sick. Instead of investigating whether the plant is to blame, state regulators appear ready to let TXI burn even more hazardous waste. Part two of A Dallas Observer Special Report

Ill Wind Blowing

Texas Industries wants permission to burn 270,000 tons of hazardous waste each year at a concrete plant 30 miles from Dallas. That would make it the nation's largest incinerator of toxic waste. Despite stunning ignorance about what this will do to your he

Letters

Companies that whore

Channel 8 sells its name to advertisers, including one of the state's biggest polluters