The op-ed page of our only local daily newspaper is full of talk today about the national Republican Party's big overnight discovery and wake-up call: in a document called the "Growth and Opportunity Report" published by the Republican National Committee, Republicans are being informed that they are ... More >>
American banks are on a massive crime spree. The Presidential candidates hope you won't notice.
Are you a musician? Is your band having issues? Our new advice columnist, Fan Landers (a.k.a. Jessica Hopper), is ready to give you Real Talk about any problems your musical outfit might be having -- whether professional, practical, or sartorial. Send your problems here; confidentiality is assured, ... More >>
If you've ever wondered who controls any given parking lot downtown, the answer is probably either Central Parking Corporation or Standard Parking Corporation. Central owns more than a dozen locations there, according to its website. Standard owns several more, though its website doesn't say exactly ... More >>
Schools ignore gay bullying at their own peril
State legislation requiring voters to present state-issued identification such as a driver's license, a concealed-carry permit, or a U.S. passport or military ID was rejected Monday morning by the U.S. Department of Justice. "Because we conclude that the state has failed to meet its burden of dem ... More >>
Anthony Bond, founder of the Irving chapter of the NAACP, looked at what was happening in South Dallas, at the Diamond Shamrock Kwik Stop on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and decided: Enough's enough. Those protests at the Korean-owned convenience store had to stop, as did calls for its owner Th ... More >>
Given Texas's dicey history with electoral rights, the Obama Administration has expressed concern in recent months about the state's new Voter ID law, which requires voters to bring government-issued identification to the polls. So the state, naturally, is suing to put the new and allegedly discrimi ... More >>
Photo by Anna MerlanDomingo Garcia and Delia Jasso at last night's redistricting confabThe answer is no, the question being: Will we ever stop writing about the city redistricting process? But it's been a little while, so let's review. Then we can discuss the dueling delegations who apparentl ... More >>
Photo by Patrick MichelsSo far, there's been little indication that the council has any interest in reopening the debate over the new council-districts map approved (barely) on October 5 and dispatched to the Department of Justice three weeks later. As you may recall, six council members did ask ... More >>
Lost Boys: New child-sex-trafficking research demolishes the stereotype of the underage sex worker.
Overnight, several Friends of Unfair Park sent different versions of the same story, which says: The state quite deliberately submitted to the Department of Justice new election maps that discriminate against the Hispanic voter -- especially in Dallas-Fort Worth. As in: "There is direct and circu ... More >>
The council-approved mapCity Hall just sent word: At long last the city has submitted to the Department of Justice the new council districts map approved by the council on October 5. But that is hardly the entirety of the package sent to the DoJ yesterday: If you click here you'll find the massiv ... More >>
The mayor presiding over the (very, very, very, very long) redistricting debate two weeks agoHad a brief chat with Mayor Mike Rawlings last night concerning what appears to be the never-ending process of redistricting, about which the city council will get an earful this morning from Latino leade ... More >>
And here Anna thought she was done with redistricting. Hah!A Friend of Unfair Park just sent us an invite to wingding Domingo Garcia's throwing at Tejano Restaurant on West Davis scheduled to kick off at 6:30 p.m. Says the come-one-come-all signed by the redistricting commissioner:"The Dallas cit ... More >>
I swear: Every other item today won't be a redistricting item. Even Anna's moved on for now: She was out with the Occupy Dallas folks, and her recap of the march to the Dallas Fed is forthcoming. But the Redistricting Commission just made available the map and data packet accompanying the version ... More >>
The voter ID law passed by Texas lawmakers in May continues its circuit among activists, lawmakers, academics and social commentators as a discriminatory, unjustified and absolutely necessary measure, depending on who's yelling. Words like "voter fraud" on the right and "disenfranchisement" o ... More >>
Photo by Mark GrahamDuring the morning portion of today's city council meeting, Mayor Mike Rawlings told his colleagues he's been "doing some thinking" about redistricting. Lord, haven't we all. In reviewing what the Redistricting Commission has done, he said, "I believe the transparency was ther ... More >>
Via.So long as we can still get one of theseAn edict from the Justice Department to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives paved the way Monday for tighter regulation of repeat purchases of semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines in border states. The feds' f ... More >>
Last July, you may recall, the FBI and Arlington Police Department confirmed that they were investigating a series of incidents at the Dar El-Eman Islamic Center on Mansfield Road in Arlington, where a playground was set on fire and "explicit images" were spray-painted on the parking lot. Said an ... More >>
On the other side you'll find a lawsuit I came across this morning while looking for something completely unrelated: United States of America v. PrimeLending. The residential mortgage lender, HQ'd in Victory Park, is a subsidiary of PlainsCapital, which, maybe you remember, took $87.6 mil in TARP ... More >>
Ruben BohuchotBack in June 2009, you may recall, the Dallas Independent School District and the U.S. Department of Justice settled up over the misuse of funds provided to the district for the feds' E-Rate program, which was created in 1996 to give "affordable access to telecommunications services ... More >>
This just in from the U.S. Department of Justice's press department: The government and the Dallas Independent School District have settled their dispute involving the misuse of funds provided to the district for the so-called E-Rate program, created in 1996 to give "affordable access to telecommuni ... More >>
It's a multilingual world. Get used to it.
The County can't get away from the latest bad news on its troubled jail
U.S. Justice Department investigators find horrid conditions at Dallas County's jail
Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez was a revolutionary candidate--as a leader, not so much
Wading in the city's dirty water
Get yourself--and Congress--ready for the next wave of absurd anti-file-sharing tactics
Dallas' African-American cops say they are being unfairly disciplined by a racist department. The numbers suggest they're right.
Judge John Henry McBryde ruled his court like a minor despot, angering lawyers and fellow judges. Now they're lined up to depose him, and the Constitution be damned.
