Texas Office of the Attorney General

Texas Sues the Feds, Part Infinity: Greg Abbott Wants to Take Greenhouse Gas Challenge To Supreme Court

Last summer, Texas, Big Oil interests, the automotive industry and other assorted industrial polluters were dealt an unambiguous defeat in a legal challenge to dismantle greenhouse gas regulations. The Feds, a federal appeals court panel ruled, were "unambiguously correct" for setting limits on carb ... More >>

Feds Indict Strip Club Owner Who Allegedly Tried to Put Hit on Arlington Mayor

Back in April, Ryan Walker Grant had agreed to close Flashdancer, his Arlington strip club, for a year to settle a lawsuit filed by the Texas Attorney General. Walker could apparently live with that but, when Arlington officials began taking steps to put him out of business for good by revoking his ... More >>

Dallas Police & Fire Pension Says Lawsuit Isn't Imminent, Questions Morning News' Ethics

Perhaps you've heard by now: the Morning News reports that negotiations "have all but broken down" between the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System, who own the neighboring Museum Tower, which its critics say is really lighting up the neighborhood. But a statement ... More >>

State Maps Stayed, Texas AG Abbott Now Wants Supremes to Delay Candidate Filing Period

Carol Kent's hoping to run for House Disrict 107, if there is a House Distict 107.​As we were leaving the office Friday, word came down that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (and former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement) got what they wanted from the U.S. Supreme Court: a ruling that, for now, ... More >>

At the Last Minute, Texas Spikes Federal Sex Education Funding ... Again

Condoms, birth control -- who needs 'em? Just don't have sex, Texas says to its horny teens. Just hobble that unbridled desire coupled with a limited understanding of consequences and say 'No, I'm saving myself for marriage.' That's pretty much the message, maybe paired with an infographic demonstr ... More >>

Two Years After Addison-Based Debt Relief USA Went Bankrupt, the Feds Take an Interest

​No doubt you heard the radio spots in which they promised to "settle your credit card debt for pennies on the dollar without filing for bankruptcy"; no doubt you saw the TV ads in which they claimed you would "truly be debt free in less than 36 months." From 2005 till '09, Addison-based Debt Reli ... More >>

Kunkle Steps Out on a Limb, Calling for Transparency on the Trinity

​As you saw here yesterday, Dallas mayoral candidate David Kunkle has made releasing financial data on the Trinity River Project a plank in his platform -- well, a stick, anyway -- in part in response to stories he has seen here about it. Kunkle is making ethics a theme in his run-off campaig ... More >>

City Attorney, City Manager Insist They're Not Hiding Trinity Project Docs From Us

Dallas City Attorney Tom Perkins​Just spent 20 minutes getting an earful from Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm and City Attorney Tom Perkins, who insisted, over and over, that the city's lawsuit over those Trinity River records has nothing whatsoever to do with our request to see "all the individual ... More >>

Dallas City Hall Fights to Keep its Trinity Secrets

What's in the emails we can't see? Lots of bad stuff, no doubt.

Why Do We Want to See the Trinity Corridor Project Records? What Else is There to See?

​Yesterday on Unfair Park Patrick Williams posted an item reporting that the city of Dallas is going to court to sue rather than follow the instructions of the Texas Attorney General to release basic information to the Dallas Observer about the money the city has spent so far on the Trinity Ri ... More >>

City Sues Texas Attorney General to Keep From Releasing Trinity Project Docs We Requested

All your solar-powered water taxis are belong to us, says Dallas City Hall.​OK, now we're really curious. We're talking to you, Dallas City Hall, about those Trinity River project emails and memos you're fighting to keep us from seeing. What, has someone been unduly candid in his or her assessment ... More >>

What If Judge Snelson OK's the Release of Mayor Dwaine Caraway's Police Records?

Hon. Teresa Guerra Snelson​[Update at 3:52 p.m.: Jim sends word that Mayor Dwaine Caraway has just taken the stand during the evidentiary hearing now expected to stretch into the evening. More to come.][Update at 1:41 p.m.: Jim reports that Judge Teresa Guerra Snelson has denied Caraway's request ... More >>

Attorney Hoping to Overturn Wet-Dry Vote Asks Judge Not to Delay Hearing Set for Monday

​After this morning's post about Keep the Dollars in Dallas's attempt to intervene in the lawsuit contesting the results of the November 2 wet-dry election, several Friends of Unfair Park wondered: When is the judge slated to rule on Andy Siegel's request to halt the presently ongoing permitting p ... More >>

Carla Ranger: Power to the People, Not the Dallas Independent School District Trustees

DISD trustee Carla Ranger​Last week we noted: Tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. at Dallas Independent School District HQ, the school board's set to hear how the public feels about extending trustees' terms from three to four years. You got something to say on the subject, now's the time to sign up -- deadline ... More >>

After Delaying Vote on Potential Sale of Samuell Farm, Park Board Opts to Take a Pass. For Now.

Courtesy Friends of the Farm​No doubt you recall the brouhaha in June over Park and Recreation's proposal to ask voters if it'd be OK to maybe, some day, sell Samuell Farm and Samuell New Hope Park, neither of which the city has dough enough to tend to. Long story short: The Texas Attorney General ... More >>

AG's Office Rules Irving PD Must Release Mug Shots to Magazine Publishers

While the publishers of our local mug shot magazines keep scrapping for gas station counter space, Mugly!'s J. Martin Ward has been battling on a second front: a slow-motion rumble with police departments in Arlington and Irving over access to their mug shots and jail records. Mugly! runs on a stea ... More >>

Now Objecting to the Sale of Your Texas Rangers: Attorney General Greg Abbott, Comptroller

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott​Once again, the Texas Rangers Baseball Partners Information Site provides us with a wealth of morning must-reads -- chief among them, the 12-page objection filed yesterday in Fort Worth bankruptcy court by the Texas Attorney General's Office and the Texas Comptro ... More >>

Philanthropy Daily Weighs In On City's Proposal to Sell Samuell's Donated Land

Flickr user: Jay Gunn​A couple of weeks ago, we broke the news that Park and Rec would like to ask voters for the permission to some day maybe pretty please sell Samuell Farm and Samuell New Hope Park, two properties given to the city by physician and philanthropist William Worthington Samuell wit ... More >>

In Arlington, Open Records Not So Open?

​Speaking of criminals ...Courthouse News today has this lawsuit brought by an Austin law firm against the City of Arlington, in which Sullo & Bobbitt PLLC claims that the city, by moving its criminal records to municipal court, is attempting to restrict access to docs every other city in the ... More >>

After Texas AG Swats Down Proposed Samuell Parks Sale, City Attorney Says, "Nuh-Unh."

Courtesy Friends of the Farm​If you thought the Park and Rec board's decision yesterday to defer a vote on a proposed sale of Samuell Farm and Samuell New Hope Park meant that was that till August 5, so sorry. But, hell, might as well go five-for-five this work week with one final item on the city ... More >>

The Texas Attorney General, Not Keen on Putting the "Open" in Open Records Requests

Patrick MichelsTexas Attorney Greg Abbott with two of his fans at the Texas GOP convention downtown over the weekend​Yesterday's mail included a couple of letters from the Texas Attorney General, which I will share, regarding two unrelated matters. The first was an opinion dealing with my letter t ... More >>

Texas AG's Office Tells City Attorney and Park Board: Just Try to "Unlawfully" Sell Samuell Properties, And You Will "Face Legal Action"

Flickr user: Jay Gunn​When W.W. Samuell left the city of Dallas thousands of acres of park land upon his death in 1937, he left very explicit instructions: "Real estate to the City of Dallas Park Board for park purposes - not to be sold." Yesterday we broke the news that the Park and Rec board wil ... More >>

Ain't Gonna Work on Samuell Farm No More? The City Would Like to Sell Beloved Property.

The entirety of Samuell Farm in an aerial snapshot taken by Hugh Brooks's now-defunct Friends of the Farm​I expect this won't be our last item on this subject today, given the years of blood, toil, tears and sweat that have been spilled over Samuell Farm. But just a little more than a year after t ... More >>

Still No Plans for Samuell Farm. But We Do Have the First-Ever Samuell Parks Report.

Oak Cliff's Founders Park, among the Samuell properties​We attended this morning's Dallas Park and Recreation Board meeting at Dallas City Hall hoping to learn more about one item of interest we noticed on the agenda: "Museum of Nature and Science Charter School," which, we assumed, would have fle ... More >>

Ain't Gonna Work on Samuell Farm No More? Per City Docs, Four Options for the 320 Acres.

The Pavillion at Samuell Farm, which the city is considering tearing down -- unless a gust of wind beats it to the punch​Last Friday, we broke the news that the Texas Attorney General's Office is threatening to take control of the W.W. Samuell Trust if the city of Dallas doesn't turn over by Septe ... More >>

City Misses Samuell Trust Reports Deadlines; Texas AG Threatens Dallas With Legal Action

Once a popular hangout at the Samuell Farm, the Pavillion is a rotting, open-door shell of its former self.​Long story short: Since March 2008, the Texas Attorney General's Office has been investigating precisely how well the city of Dallas is taking care of the park properties and money left to t ... More >>

Make Him an Offer You Can't Refuse: The WSJ Haggles for a Rug in Preston Royal

A Friend of Unfair Park forwards along this front-page Wall Street Journal story about Cyrus Hassankola, who moved to Dallas to open a business that always appears on the verge of closing -- the oriental rug shop at Preston Road and Royal Lane formerly known as "Going Out of Business." It was a geni ... More >>

DISD Board Has Two Options: Special Election or Appointments. Not So Fast, Says Ranger.

DISD school trustee Carla RangerWhen last we left the Dallas Independent School District board of trustees yesterday, they had come back from their closed-door meeting and presented two options to deal with the Texas Attorney General's opinion concerning the extension of terms from three to four yea ... More >>

If You Need to Find Schutze Today ...

Next time, swear.Jim's all dolled up: tie and pants and everything. Then, he does have a busy afternoon planned; just as well his Cinco de Mayo BBQ was called on account of flash flood warning. First, he'll be stopping by DISD HQ for today's 3:30 called meeting, during which the board of trustees wi ... More >>

Right Now, the DISD Board is Probably Yelling At Each Other Behind Closed Doors

DISD board trustee Ron PriceAs I noted, earlier Jim's at 3700 Ross Avenue, where, at this very moment, the board of trustees is behind closed doors, no doubt arguing over the ramifications of the Texas Attorney General's opinion that the trustees should not have extended their terms from three years ... More >>

Booker T. Washington Will Likely Lose 13 Positions For the 2009-'10 School Year

Dallas Independent School District spokesman Jon Dahlander just called Unfair Park back to explain the figure on Page 14 of the summary of staffing formulas at DISD campuses for the 2009-'10 school year being discussed by trustees today. And while it looks as though the Booker T. Washington High Sch ... More >>

Courting Disapproval? DISD Board to Meet With Attorney to Discuss Texas AG's Opinion.

Woodrow Wilson High SchoolLast week, the Texas Attorney General's Office offered its opinion that the Dallas Independent School District's board of trustees "was not authorized to change the length of its members' terms of office" from three to four years last November. Which has prompted a called b ... More >>

DISD Trustee Carla Ranger Writes of Texas AG's Opinion: "Voting Rights Have Been Sacrificed on the Alter of Political Power."

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott"Bummer." That's how Dallas Independent School District board trustee Edwin Flores initially responded yesterday when Unfair Park asked for comment concerning the Texas Attorney General's opinion yesterday that the board "was not authorized to change the length of i ... More >>

Because, Look, Who Hasn't Pretended to Be An Answering Machine at Some Point?

Modern MechanixWhen the phones in the Texas Attorney General's Office's Child Support Division wouldn't stop ringing, Delene Richardson did what she says she was told to do: pretend to be an answering machine. For the better part of four months, the Mesquite resident answered the phone in a robotic ... More >>

Texas Attorney General, Dallas County Constables Round Up Deadbeat Parents

The Texas Attorney General's Office sends word this morning that 22 Dallas parents who've been court-ordered to pony up child support were arrested by Dallas County constables -- and it was the very definition of a "rude awakening," as the round-up kicked off at 5:30 in the a.m. Says Attorney Genera ... More >>

Texas AG Tells Cali Women to Take Their Fuel Magnets and Blow 'Em Out Their Gas Tank

Three years ago, we ran a piece in the paper version of Unfair Park about a scam called BioPerformance Fuel -- otherwise known as mothballs you were supposed to drop into your gas tank to rev up mileage per gallon. The Texas Attorney General didn't take kindly to that. Which didn't stop two Californ ... More >>

Does the Texas Attorney General Trust the City's Treatment of W.W. Samuell Trust Fund?

Courtesy Friends of the FarmAn aerial view of the Samuell Farm, donated to the city nearly 70 years agoOn Wednesday, the Dallas city council will meet behind closed doors to discuss a host of subjects -- among them, pending lawsuits involving the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' floodway r ... More >>

Cocaine Blues: Sorry, Texas, But You Will No Longer Be Able to Buy This Stimulating Drink.

Out of the Dallas County's 44th Judicial District Court comes this swig o' news, courtesy the Texas Attorney General's Office: Never again will you find Cocaine on your local soft-drink shelves. Greg Abbott and his staff, including Dallas-based ADA Joyce Iliya of the Consumer Protection and Public H ... More >>

So, No One Else Is Worked Up About DISD Board's Vote to Extend Term Limits? OK, Then.

Yesterday was the deadline for "interested parties" to send to the Office of the Attorney General of Texas briefs concerning the Dallas Independent School District board of trustee's vote to extend their term limits from three to four years. Carla Ranger, of course, is the only trustee against the e ... More >>

Never Have Kids

The Bridge to the Truth

They Might Be Illegal or a Bald Eagle, But Not a Kegle Nor Spread Eagle

Trinity Trust? Not on Yer Life.

One Rockin' Senator

Donald Bags 3 Katies

Staffers make a big splash in recent journalism competitions

Jack! Jack!

You didn't trade the family cow for a Calatrava bridge, did you?

Aggies lose again

AG's office makes the last call of the season

Letters

Letters