Steve M. Thompson

Dallas' Police and Fire Pension Claims the Morning News Illegally Recorded its Secret Meeting (Updated)

We've always assumed that The Dallas Morning News' white-on-rice coverage of the Museum Tower dust-up has been the product of good shoe-leather reporting on the part of Steve Thompson and Gary Jacobson: combing through open records, studying up on the arcane world of public pensions, developing sour ... More >>

Dallas Police & Fire Pension Fund Says it Has "Several" Offers to Buy Museum Tower

Every month, the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System's board of trustees convenes at the break of dawn for its regular meeting. On a scale of exciting-ness, that meeting usually ranks somewhere between scrubbing the mold from one's bathroom tiles and looking at the photo album my aunt used to keep ... More >>

South Dallas Shamrock Kwik Stop Story Ends With TABC Squeezing $1,500 Out of Store Owner

Looks like the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission may have written the last sordid act in the ugly saga of Thomas Pak and the Shamrock Kwik Stop on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Records released yesterday reveal a settlement last August between Pak and the state alcohol agency by which Pak acce ... More >>

City Hall Wants to Make It Clear to Drivers: Don't Be a Dick to Cyclists

Just last week, we noted that while those long-delayed bike lanes downtown are great and all, it'll be a long time before Dallas drivers give cyclists their space. Texas motorists tend to feel entitled to the road, which they are loath to share with some spindly, non-motorized conveyance. We learn ... More >>

How to Petty-Theft Your Way to Riches Under the Dallas PD's New "Crackdown"

As Eric noted earlier, there's a hilarious kind of stand-off going on these days between Dallas Police Chief David Brown, who says petty theft rates in the city have fallen because of his own tough police work, and Dallas Morning News reporters Steve Thompson and Tanya Eiserer, who proved in a story ... More >>

In the South Dallas Kwik Stop Story, Telling the Truth Does Not Make a Reporter an Uncle Tom

Dear Friends Among Dallas Black Activists: Some of you have contacted me to ask me who this Uncle Tom son of a bitch Greg Howard is working for the Observer. One of you --- a guy with a long history of responsible activism -- called me from the picket line at the Shamrock Kwik-Stop on MLK Boulevar ... More >>

How a Battle Over a Korean-Owned Kwik Stop Divided, Then United, South Dallas

Led by a little-known minister, protesters rallied to run a Korean store owner out of business. Then they learned a little more about that minister.

Council Faces Huge Bill for IT Glitch. Maybe They Should Just Dial Jesus for Technical Help.

​The Dallas city council today is locked in a dispute today over paying a contractor $8.3 million to help City Manager Mary Suhm straighten out a huge mess with the city's computerized billing system. Unable to resolve it this morning, they will come back to the question this afternoon. Watch ... 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 >>

Fun With Redistricting, or: Well, Look Who Done Submitted a Map to the Commission

Map by Sam MertenClick to embiggen a former Unfair Park-er's proposed redistricting map​Steve Thompson beat me to it, but no matter. Because, see, in advance of this evening's meeting of the city's Redistricting Commission, some of us were sneak-peeking the public's submissions made to the commiss ... More >>

I'm Shocked, Shocked to Find That Ethics Aren't Going On at City Hall. Not Really.

​On May 12 I wrote a column quoting Dallas City Attorney Tom Perkins on why he had decided to write a proposed new ethics law for the city council. The new law he wrote was adopted unanimously by the council. It greatly relaxed restrictions on how soon after a city council vote the members of ... More >>

As Commission Begins Redrawing Dallas's Districts, Barton and Smith at War Over State's

Congressman Joe Barton​The Redistricting Commission, charged with redrawing city council district boundaries, meets tomorrow at 6 p.m. at City Hall, at which time commission members Domingo Garcia, Donna Halstead and Gary Griffith and chair Ruth Morgan will present to the public early-look maps an ... More >>

Mayor Caraway's Police Records to Remain Hidden For At Least Another Two Weeks

Hon. Teresa Guerra Snelson​Jim's on his way back from that court hearing involving Mayor Dwaine Caraway's request for a temporary restraining order that would, at least temporarily, block the release of police records documenting Dallas PD officers' visit to the home of Caraway and his wife, state ... More >>

The Longer Mayor Dwaine Delays the Inevitable, The More Stuff We Get to Keep Making Up

​Two things. The first is serious business. The second, not so much. As you know by now, a Dallas judge today granted lawyers for Mayor Dwaine Caraway their request for a temporary restraining order forbidding the Dallas City Attorney from releasing an embarrassing police investigative tape of th ... More >>

Former Muni Judge Brings Federal Lawsuit Against City; Claims Harassment, Retaliation

Via.​On February 13, Steve Thompson wrote that ex-municipal judge Staci Williams -- a Hockaday grad with a Georgetown law degree dismissed by the Dallas City Council last June -- might sue the city. The reason: Williams claimed repeatedly that she was sexually harassed by Administrative Judge C. V ... More >>

Puttin' a DART in Tim Rogers' Comeback

​Three weeks ago I did a smack-down on Tim Rogers, the editor of D, after he was the subject of a bad front-page story in The Dallas Morning News. The story was about phone calls Rogers made to the media relations department of the school district to get his kid into a special pre-K program. Yest ... More >>

Cowboy Chow's Jason Boso: Bringing the Chef in the White Coat to the Sloppy Joes of the World

Jason Boso is wearing jeans, a battered SMU hat, and a mechanic's shirt with the name "Easy" on the name patch. He's cute. Really cute and he's at the bar having a beer when I get to Cowboy Chow. The hostess introduces us and he gives me the "hey" head nod. I have to remind myself for a minute that ... More >>

Now That September Trial Date Has Been Set in Wet-Dry Case, What About Existing Permits?

​On the other side is a brief filed on Friday by the attorneys trying to overturn the November referendum that allows the citywide sale of beer and wine. In it, attorneys Leland de la Garza and Andy Siegel argue that the vote to "wet up" Dallas was invalid because it included Preston Hollow, which ... More >>

Why, Angela Hunt, You Hurt Boise's Feelings

I dunno -- from the looks of these photos, the Boise airport is kinda nice.​Like I wrote yesterday, Sam was at that council briefing during which they back-and-forthed over those three themes for the new-n-improved Love Field. Sam shot me a few texts during the meeting, including some funny quotes ... More >>

Today's Edition of The News Is Caught Between a Rock Island Street and a Hard Place

​There's a great story by Steve Thompson on Page One of The Dallas Morning News today about old industrial businesses on Rock Island Street, a quaint one-block lane tucked between the Trinity River levee and Lamar Street a mile due south of downtown. Several businesses there are fighting to keep C ... More >>

The History Lesson Carolyn Davis Needed Before Telling the Mayor He Owes Her

Brian HarkinCarolyn Davis​As I said after Mayor Tom Leppert's huge convention center hotel victory, the man simply knows how to win. So that, combined with a sneak peek at Angela Hunt's thoughts, didn't make me fret about missing the big vote on the concessions at Dallas Love Field Airport. ... More >>

City Attorney Tom Perkins Responds to Beer, Wine Referendum Foes' Writ: "The Courts Should Not Intervene in an Ongoing Election."

Patrick MichelsDallas City Attorney Tom Perkins​A couple of weeks back we mentioned that Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals Justice Elizabeth Lang-Miers ordered the city of Dallas to respond by no later than July 19 to attorney Andy Siegel's writ of mandamus in which he claims, among other thi ... More >>

The Only Person Who Counts When It Comes to Counting Wet-Dry Petitions Is City Secretary

Daniel RodrigueMatt Spiller, owner of Eno's Pizza Tavern, signs the petition at the March 23 kick-off​I see here that Andy Siegel, an attorney at Shackelford, Melton & McKinley, is claiming that Progress Dallas has come up 5,555 signatures short of getting the dry parts of Dallas soaking wet i ... More >>

The Friend of Samuell Farm Takes Issue With Park and Rec Head's Comments

One of several pieces of equipment Hugh Brooks says his Friends of the Farm purchaed for Samuell Farm using privately donated funds​Welcome to Day Three of our continuing coverage of Park and Rec's proposal to sell, among others, Samuell Farm and Samuell New Hope Park, which will be taken up by th ... More >>

The Game Changer? In Four Minutes, the Past, Present and Future of Wonderview.

Cuban representative on Wonderview from Steve Thompson on Vimeo.Steve Thompson's been kind enough throughout the afternoon to offer Dallas City New Network video highlights from today's council meeting -- specifically, the part dealing with Mark Cuban's proposed Wonderview development in Oak Cliff. ... More >>

Regarding Those Levees, Let Me Break Out My Tin-Foil Hat And My Crystal Ball

​In the weeks ahead I'm going to be tied up with some stories that will demand a lot of my time, so, I'm sorry, I'm just not going to have time to do my regularly predictable clockwork swat-down reaction pieces to Dallas Morning News stories on the Trinity River project. I wondered if it would be ... More >>

Data Collector Quoted in DMN Crime-Stats Story Now Says "I'll Take Kunkle's Side"

Patrick MichelsIs Kunkle a numbers-fudger or simply exercising good judgment in dealing with confusing federal guidelines?​Another front-page story last week in The Dallas Morning News criticizing the Dallas Police Department's crime-reporting methods had the paper in a self-congratulatory mo ... More >>

News Finally Replaces Dave Levinthal

​When last we spoke with Dallas Morning News editor Bob Mong, about sales reps overseeing editors, he mentioned that A.H. Belo was hiring a handful of investigative reporters. At which point we wondered: Did that include replacing Dave Levinthal, who hopped off the Dallas City Hall beat in July to ... More >>

What Had Ryan Evans So Worried

​So here's the crime-stats story Dallas First Assistant City Manager Ryan Evans warned the city council about Friday evening. Looks like he had good reason to want to get ahead of Steve Thompson and Tanya Eiserer, who looked at a single week's worth of police reports -- July 1 through July 7 of th ... More >>

Wherein DPD Chief Kunkle Tells Schutze Why He Didn't Talk to News for Crime-Stats Story

Patrick MichelsDPD Chief David Kunkle at his retirement press conference on November 12​As Unfair Park already noted earlier this morning, The Dallas Morning News has a hell of a story this morning about the Dallas Police Department and the feeling of some experts and involved citizens that it has ... More >>

Low-Rent Landlord Alex Stolarski is City Hall's Fall Guy

You Might Be a Terrorist If ...

Camouflage Is So Last Year