Science and Technology

Documentary About New Orleans' Killer Floods Draws Uneasy Parallels to Dallas.

Ladies Night, All Month Long

Hacker Known as "GhostExodus" Sentenced to More Than Nine Years in Federal Prison

From Jesse McGraw's video "Post July 4th Infiltration," posted before his intended attack on the hospital's computer system​For those who do not recall the name Jesse William McGraw, a brief refresher: He's the 26-year-old Arlington man Formerly Known as GhostExodus of the Electronik Tribulation A ... More >>

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

From Jesse McGraw's video "Post July 4th Infiltration," posted before his intended attack on the hospital's computer system​For those who do not recall the name Jesse William McGraw, a brief refresher: He's the 26-year-old Arlington man Formerly Known as GhostExodus of the Electronik Tribulation A ... More >>

Presenting! The New Village Voice Best Of App

Download the App in the iTunes Store, or search "best of " in the App Store.​A few months ago we announced the launch of the Dallas Observer iPhone app, (which is completely free, dudes), and now we have a new one for you: the Best Of.. Village Voice Media App. Before we get a breathy announcement ... More >>

Raymond Crawford, Actual Citizen, Fought the City on Fracking -- and Won

When Dallas' drilling rules get tougher, you'll have a professional needlepointer to thank.

Kunkle and Rawlings Say That As Mayor, They'd Push for Gas Drilling Moratorium

Photos by Patrick MichelsDistrict 3 City Council candidates Dave Neumann and Scott Griggs joined all four mayoral candidates in a forum with Mountain Creek neighbors last night at Harmony School of Nature and Athletics.At a campaign forum in far western Oak Cliff's Mountain Creek neighborhood last n ... More >>

Want to Be on Dallas's Gas Drilling Task Force?

​After council member Angela Hunt pushed the city council to form the gas drilling task force Dave Neumann only talked about, it's time to assemble the dream team: Moments ago, Dallas City Hall sent word that it's taking applications from those interested in serving on the task force. For those wh ... More >>

Fracking Chemical Disclosure Bill Blasts Through Texas House, Enviros Unimpressed

From the rapidly spreading "Fracking Song" from ProPublica and Studio 20 NYU.​In these final days of the 82nd Texas Legislature, lawmakers in Austin are throwing support behind Eastlake Rep. Jim Keffer's bill that'd require drillers to report the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing at each of t ... More >>

UT Researcher Leading Fracking Study: "We're Gonna Look at Every Claim We Can Find."

UT-Austin geology professor Chip Groat​A week ago today, as you may recall, the University of Texas at Austin's Energy Institute announced they'd be joining the growing ranks of universities with major studies of hydraulic fracturing, with a $300,000, nine-month project of their own. Today, thank ... More >>

Five Months After City Extended XTO's Gas Drilling Lease, Trinity East to Get Same Deal

From the city council's February 2008 briefing on gas drilling within city limits​First, a programming note: Plans are to liveblog, yet again, today's 2 p.m. meeting of the council's Ad Hoc Gas Drilling Task Force Nominating Committee, if only because last week's was such a humdinger as the counci ... More >>

Gas Drilling Committee Trims List of Task Force Applicants to Nine Slated For Council Vote

Photo by Leslie MinoraLinda Koop, seated next to outgoing council member Dave Neumann, chaired yesterday's meeting.​After postponing last Thursday's meeting so council members could ride in the Dallas Mavericks' parade through downtown, the city council's Ad Hoc Gas Drilling Task Force Nominating ... More >>

Hunker Down for Hubble

Photo by Leslie MinoraLinda Koop, seated next to outgoing council member Dave Neumann, chaired yesterday's meeting.​After postponing last Thursday's meeting so council members could ride in the Dallas Mavericks' parade through downtown, the city council's Ad Hoc Gas Drilling Task Force Nominating ... More >>

Fire In the Well: Weatherford Couple Sues Range Over Nearby Gas Drilling

​Maybe you've seen the ads: On Wednesday we're co-sponsoring a special screening of Gasland at the Texas Theatre, which isn't the only movie we're screening next week. More about that later. But Josh Fox's Oscar-nominated film, as you probably know, features that now-infamous scene of a Colorado m ... More >>

EPA to Study Whether Hydraulic Fracturing Taints Drinking Water in North Texas

Photo by Patrick MichelsAt the EPA's public hearing in Arlington in August of last year​All at once the in-box filled up with releases from the Environmental Protection Agency, both the national HQ and the regional offices. Long story short: After a series of public hearings held last year, includ ... More >>

A Few Council Members Take in Gasland, But Not Before Mayor Mike Makes a Promise to City

Photos by Leslie MinoraAngela Hunt was asked whether it's likely Dallas will be sued by gas drillers awaiting their SUPs.​Mayor Mike Rawlings took the mic before last night's Observer co-sponsored Gasland screening and told the audience of council members, activists and concerned locals, "I wi ... More >>

City's Gas Drilling Task Force Makes Its Official Bow With Vow to Protect Citizens of Dallas

Photos by Leslie MinoraLois Finkelman and task force member David Sterling at today's introductory meeting​Today's first meeting of the city's gas drilling task force meeting played out like the pilot episode of a new TV series: It laid out the basic plot line without giving away too much. Which i ... More >>

Finkelman Vows to Keep an Eye on Council Members Drilling In On Task Force Meetings

​I've heard from a few folks furious that council member Sheffie Kadane, a vocal proponent of gas drilling within the city limits, sat with the gas drilling task force yesterday during its inaugural meeting. As Marc McCord, an anti-drilling activist, put it in the comments below: "He showed up, to ... More >>

America: Meet Spotify, Europe's Successful Foray Into The Future of Free(ish) Music...

​Americans are understandably wary of sites that offer free music. For the past decade, we've seen site after site go in and out of favor, sometimes quickly. We got excited about Napster back in 2001, but after all the foolishness that ensued in the wake of its demise, we're quick to give the side ... More >>

Dallas Gas Drilling Task Force's Field Trip Was Practical, Educational and Quite Hot

Photos by Taryn WalkerThe crowd at yesterday's Arlington trip sizes up an actively drilling Chesapeake site.Tuesday, Dallas gas drilling task force members -- and city council members Angela Hunt, Linda Koop and, but of course, Sheffie Kadane -- poured out of two white 15-passenger vans and into the ... More >>

The Conversation: The Effects of Blog Culture on Music in North Texas

Sachin TengThat's a Gorilla versus a Bear -- get it?​As you can see from the cover story this week, blog culture has undoubtedly changed the face of the North Texas music community. The sheer amount of blogs here in the metroplex is evidence that some feel their favorite artists are not being repr ... More >>

City's Gas Drilling Task Force Received a Public Education at Last Night's Hearing

Photos by Leslie MinoraJeffrey Jacoby, the Program Director of the Texas Campaign for the Environment, gave the task force a passionate three minutes, emphasizing their responsibility to protect Dallas citizens.​In the end, council members Delia Jasso, Dwaine Caraway and Scott Griggs skipped M ... More >>

CBS Is Looking For The Best Food Blogger, Kinda

​Early last month, the CBS-11 announced a friendly competition to crown the area's Most Valuable Bloggers. Categories include local affairs, sports, lifestyle, entertainment and dining, among others. Contestants are entered into the event through a nomination process in which anyone can partic ... More >>

Gas Drilling Task Force Absorbs More Info as It Inches Closer to Making Reg Recommendations

Photo by Leslie MinoraReal estate expert, Dan Wright, talks to the task force about drilling's effect (or lack thereof) on property values.​Yesterday afternoon, the city's gas drilling task force heard presentations (slideshows here) from three experts who explained the impact of drilling on n ... More >>

Sucking Up Water and Sand in the Quest for Natural Gas

For folks in the sandy hills northwest of Dallas, it's a devil's bargain for gas, water and jobs.

Chatting With a NOAA Meteorologist About This Drought: What It Is and What It Ain't

Photo by Brantley HargroveA stock pond in Archer County​So, what's our problem? Mostly, it's La Nina, that little trollop. She's been messin' with Texas for a long time. And the relationship between her cool Pacific sea-surface temperatures and dry times here is pretty well established. For n ... More >>

After Talking Water Supply, Cause of Quakes, Drilling Task Force Gets Down to Business

Photo by Leslie MinoraPhilip Dellinger, Regional Ground Water/Underground Injection Control Chief for the EPA, presents a fracking overview.​Water, water, everywhere -- more than ample supply to frack, according to Jody Puckett, the director of Dallas Water Utilities, who spoke at yesterday's ... More >>

Police Officers Flock to Dallas to Learn How to Tweet Like Professionals (#thisisahashtagguys)

Photos by Anna MerlanSocial media, officers, it's all the rage.​If you're planning on doing anything illegal in the next three days (not that you would), may we suggest keeping well away from the Aloft Hotel on Young Street? That place is crawling with cops. This morning marked the start of the SM ... More >>

Citizens Form Unofficial Drilling Task Force, Present Recommendations to City Council

Via.​The Dallas gas drilling task force sees many of the same faces at each meeting: a small and dedicated group of Dallas residents who show up every Tuesday afternoon and, as it turns out, have formed an unofficial task force with the same goal as the city's official entity -- making drillin ... More >>

What the Frack: Task Force Isn't Done, But City Moves Closer to Issuing First Drilling Permit

Click to enlarge this map from the city's April gas drilling ordinance presentation​XTO and Trinity East, two of the companies that have paid the city big money and signed leases to drill for gas within the city limits, have agreed to wait 30 months while the city rewrites its gas drilling ord ... More >>

After Months of Debate, Southlake Keeps 1,000-Foot Setbacks From Gas Wells to Homes

​The Southlake City Council Hall, once packed from floor to gallery with residents for whom gas drilling in town was either a looming menace or a windfall, had only a smattering of attendees a little after 11 last night. Many had already wearied of the debate, which had raged since February an ... More >>

While Faraway Lenders Grapple with Fracking, a Word From Local Appraiser in the Trenches

Photo by Taryn Walker​A rig in ArlingtonThe New York Times ran an interesting story Thursday on the growing reluctance of banks to grant mortgages to owners of properties that have been leased for gas drilling in the northeast. Landowners often aren't giving banks a heads up before signing on ... More >>

There's Another Gas Drilling Public Hearing Tomorrow. So Where Is City Heading, Anyway?

Photo by Taryn WalkerDrill, maybe, drill.​As chair of the city's gas drilling task force, Lois Finkelman has a pretty tough job, directing task force meetings, guiding discussions, fielding calls and emails from concerned citizens. (Did we mentioned she doesn't get paid? Strictly voluntary.). ... More >>

Modern Artifact

Photo by Taryn WalkerDrill, maybe, drill.​As chair of the city's gas drilling task force, Lois Finkelman has a pretty tough job, directing task force meetings, guiding discussions, fielding calls and emails from concerned citizens. (Did we mentioned she doesn't get paid? Strictly voluntary.). ... More >>

"Frack is Whack" and Other Highlights From Gas Drilling Task Force's Public Hearing

Photos by Leslie MinoraAnti-drilling activists show their support for one of the public speakers.​At last night's Gas Drilling Task Force public hearing at Dallas City, citizens' outcries ranged from polite thank-yous to pleas for tighter restrictions all the way to full-on verbal assaults tha ... More >>

There Are No Texas Oysters in Your Near Future

Steven Doyle​Houston-based food journalist Robb Walsh wrote yesterday about the red tide outbreak, which has caused the delayed opening of Texas' oyster beds. Oyster harvesting was closed until further notice by the Texas Department of Health State Services (DSHS) on October 26, leaving Walsh ... More >>

Rick Perry, Stem Cell Therapy and the Battle Between Medical Freedom and Opportunism

​The Texas Medical Board is putting off until April a vote on how to regulate adult stem cell therapy, which involves using tissues from one's own body rather than controversial stem cells cultivated from human embryos. We don't blame 'em. This issue is thornier than a Texas mesquite thicket, ... More >>

Local Anti-Gas Drilling Activist Catches Execs Pushing PSYOP to Deal With "Insurgency"

​Last week, during an oil-and-gas drilling confab at the Hyatt Regency in Houston, execs turned their attention to a very touchy subject: how to get folks decidedly against gas drilling on their side. At which point, according to audio first obtained by CNBC earlier this week, gas-drilling spo ... More >>

UT Southwestern Docs May Have Found the Pathway to Revolutionary Cancer Treatment

Dr. Ralph DeBerardinis​Researchers at UT Southwestern published a study in the journal Nature Sunday identifying a cancer-specific metabolic pathway that fuels only the growth of certain kinds of kidney and adrenal tumors. This is a pretty remarkable finding, chiefly because if you can halt th ... More >>

Fear and Fracking in Southlake

In one of America's wealthiest suburbs, an unlikely band of drilling opponents helped drive away the world's biggest energy companies. Did they save the town or ruin it?

Gas Drilling Task Force Mulls Over Possibility of Injection Wells For Frack Water Disposal

Via.​Injection wells, like most aspects of gas drilling, elicit conflicting opinions, contradictory data and the frequent, familiar demand: "Not in my backyard!". While the wells used for the disposal of produced fracking water are not currently allowed within Dallas city limits, the issue pro ... More >>

What Does City Hall Have to Say About Levee Report? No. Really. I'm Asking.

​This is Day Two of Trinity River levee stories from me, which I realize is Day Too Many, but ... well, sorry. I'm just sorry about it, but I cannot let this moment pass without making an observation. Possibly an observation and a half. It'll be over quickly. First, half an observation. I sta ... More >>

EPA Report Ties Fracking To Groundwater Contamination in Wyoming. But What Does That Mean For Texas?

Photo by Taryn Walker A gas well in Arlington​For folks in Dallas, where the council-appointed gas drilling task force is running to stand still, or in Southlake, the subject of a recent cover story on towns grappling with urban drilling, this EPA report released today tying fracking to ground ... More >>

As Physicists Near Discovery of God Particle, A Word With SMU Prof Involved In the Search

Via.​You've probably heard that an international contingent of physicists in Switzerland is this close to identifying the Higgs boson, aka the "God particle." Currently, the Higgs is the theoretical mechanism that explains how matter obtained mass following the Big Bang. The theory is that it ... More >>

Shippin' Shale, or: What's That You Say About Our Energy Independence?

​The days of lease-bearing landmen making it rain on the Barnett Shale are over. The industry became so proficient at fracturing the rock thousands of feet beneath the surface and extracting the gas trapped within that they glutted the market. Gas prices took a swan dive and have stagnated eve ... More >>

Dueling Research: Fracked Shale Gas Worse For Climate Change Than Coal! Or, The Opposite!

​In the rarefied halls of Cornell, the atmospheric-science equivalent of the gauntlet has been thrown. At stake is nothing less than the suitability of one of the most plentiful, domestically producible forms of energy in North America to replace a fuel speeding climate change and emitting ton ... More >>

On Flood Control, Dallas Better Think Nationally or Be Ready to Drown Locally

​Man, talk about whistling past the graveyard. At yesterday's Dallas City Council meeting, council members Tennell Atkins and Delia Jasso asked good questions about the city's flood control plans, and City Manager Mary Suhm and her assistant, Jill Jordan, gave good answers. But it was all deck ... More >>

Shippin' Shale: Energy Independence Means Exporting It So We Can Import It. Got That?

​Yeah, it doesn't make sense to us either. A couple of weeks ago we asked if America could stop pretending that politicians and their benefactors in the energy industry actually give two shits about "energy independence" or "energy security," or any of the other portent-laden, focus-grouped ca ... More >>

Rockwall's Rep. Ralph Hall Blasts EPA and Science at Fracking Hearing

Congressman Ralph Hall, the Republican from Rockwall​Allow us to re-introduce you to the octogenarian congressman who's currently perched atop the catbird seat in the oversight hearings every fracker in America is watching with bated breath. His name is Ralph Hall. He's the chairman of the Hou ... More >>

Keeping the Lights On In Texas is Really Starting to Scare State Lawmakers

​We watch a three-hour House State Affairs Committee hearing so you don't have to! Seriously, though, the future reliability of the Texas electrical grid is really starting to freak state legislators the fuck out. The watchword these days is "resource adequacy" -- bureaucrat-ese for "Remember ... More >>