Academic Postmortem of Tornado that Killed Tim Samaras Is Chilling
American Meteorological Society details the horrifying events that led to the death of Tim Samaras and others.
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Senator Ted Cruz: The Pied Piper of Government Shutdown
For the first time since the Clinton-Gingrich budget wars of 1995-96, hundreds of thousands of federal workers may soon be furloughed without pay, while others will be asked to work for free. The U.S. House of Representatives sent a bill to the U.S. Senate that would temporarily fund the government…
ExxonMobil Will Offer Long-Denied Benefits to Legally Married Same-Sex Couples in U.S.
It ain’t the state of Texas, but same-sex couples just got their legal marriages recognized by an entity that wields more influence at home and abroad than Governor Rick Perry ever will — that’s Irving-based oil giant ExxonMobil. The company, known for its insular, white-bread corporate culture, changes course about…
Zebra Mussels’ Takeover of Texas Quickly Becoming Inexorable
The war for Texas’ lakes continues apace, though it doesn’t look like wildlife officials are holding the line. Despite the state’s best efforts to get us to just dump the damned water out of our boats, zebra mussels may have established beachheads in two more North Texas lakes. DNA from…
SMU Prof Laundry Lists Errors Made by Creationist Reviewers of High-School Biology Textbook
Creationists wield outsized influence in the shaping of textbooks in Texas. In the past, they’ve worked to burnish history’s less-than-glowing view of Joseph McCarthy and to bring to the classroom Intelligent Design — creationism gussied up with the thinnest patina of science. And because the State Board of Education has…
Dallas Gets It Very Own 9/11 Truther Billboard on Stemmons Freeway
You had to know that the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001, would spawn a host of conspiracy theories, like the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and Pearl Harbor before it. So, we here at the Dallas Observer office weren’t all that suprised to receive multiple hand-mailed…
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In Parker County, Regulators Forced to Revisit Allegations that Drilling Caused Contaminated Water
Last year, we brought you the story of Steve Lipsky, whose little slice of paradise in Parker County became a proxy in the war between the EPA and state regulators. It wasn’t long after Range Resources began stimulating a nearby natural gas well by hydraulic fracturing that Lipsky noticed his…
Dallas-based Luminant Calls Obama’s Proposed Carbon Limits on Power Plants “Unworkable”
Following through his pledge to confront a changing climate, which an international body of scientists now says with 95 percent certainty is caused by human activity, President Barack Obama’s administration has announced limits on greenhouse gases emitted by power plants. Nearly half of all energy-related greenhouse gas emissions come from…
When It Comes to Keeping America’s Helium Supply Flowing, Senator Ted Cruz Blows Hot Air
A droll old English butler once told the Dark Knight that “some men just want to watch the world burn.” The ends they pursue aren’t coherent. Their objectives are inscrutable to rational men. They sow chaos, because it is a faith unto itself. Alfred was talking about the Joker, but…
Dallas’ Unfair Fight to Crush Uber
UPDATED SEPTEMBER 3 2014:Yellow Cab President’s Ideas for Regulating Uber and Lyft: Make Them Just Like Taxis UPDATED SEPTEMBER 10 2014Vonciel Hill and Michael Morris Join Forces and Seek Delay on Car-Service Regulations ORIGINAL POST: The only thing George was sure of on a hot night in July was that…
Report: Conflicts of Interest in UT Study Finding Significantly Lower Fracking Emissions [Updated]
Last time the Public Accountability Initiative put out a report on conflicts of interest it uncovered in a University of Texas fracking study, an independent review panel concluded the school should withdraw it. Now the nonprofit research group, which explores the nexus of business and government, is back with another…
Dallas-based Luminant Seeks to “Suspend Operations” at Martin Lake Power Plant Unit Due to Cheap Electricity Prices
Luminant, Texas’ largest electricity generator, has applied to “suspend operations” at its Martin Lake coal-fired plant near Tatum. If the request is approved by grid operators, it will result in the loss of 750 megawatts hours, or enough to power about 750,000 homes. A Luminant spokeswoman says the plant would…
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UT Student’s Printable Gun On Display This Month at Prestigious British Design Museum
Just in time for next week’s London Design Festival, the Victoria and Albert Museum — the world’s largest repository of post-classical sculpture and East Asian and Islamic ceramics — will feature the work of a Texan that just might stand out: University of Texas law student Cody Wilson’s printable gun…
War on Zebra Mussels Escalates with Proposed North Texas Rules on Boating, Fishing
Texas Parks and Wildlife unveiled proposed new rules Thursday to slow the advance of rapacious zebra mussels, which have hitchhiked their way as far south as Lake Lewisville with the help of oblivious boaters. The invasive Eurasian mollusk propagates so rapidly that they stopper public water-uptake pipes, coat the hulls…
State Climatologist: Texas Water Reservoir Level Set to Hit Historic Low in Two Weeks
Texas is still almost entirely covered in drought, but it’s easy to forget it. North Texas has been comparatively dry, while much of the rest of the state received some much-needed rain over the summer. It has not, however, been nearly enough to replenish the state’s shrinking reservoirs. If this…
Frisco’s Own Expert Critical of Exide’s Plan to Clean Lead Smelter Site
The clean-up of toxic land around the former Exide lead smelter in Frisco hasn’t even begun yet, and already it has drawn criticism from state regulators and now the city’s own expert. In testimony submitted on behalf of Frisco in Exide’s bankruptcy proceedings, William Wheatley, an engineer and former director…
More and More, Proposed Changes to Texas Electricity Market Just Look Like Windfall for Generators
The state’s biggest power generators are agitating for an expensive change in the market model that dictates what your electricity bill looks like. Right now, Texas is the only state with an electricity-only market, which means generators like Dallas-based Luminant make a living based only on the price of power…
Watch the Dallas Zoo’s Aggressively Adorable New Cheetah Cubs Frolic
The Dallas Zoo released video footage of its 2-month-old cheetah cubs, named Winspear and Kamau. Notwithstanding the fact that one of them is the namesake of a border casino opera house, this is a big deal. Cheetahs are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity. They often suffer health problems, and…
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Texas Supreme Court Justice: Electing Judges Is a Really Terrible Idea
There’s something fundamentally troubling about seeing a judge on the campaign trail. Take Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett, for no other reason than that he has waded into the debate. He knows the system and has successfully held onto his place on the state’s highest bench. Voters, assuming they…
Barry Smitherman Says He’s Preparing Texas to Become “Island Nation” for U.S. Collapse
The way Railroad Commission Chairman and Texas Attorney General candidate Barry Smitherman tells it, the aim of his 10 years of public service was not brazen tub-thumping for the industry he regulates in order to shore up deep-pocketed benefactors for his political aspirations. It’s only ever been about readying Texas…
National Weather Service Downgrades the Monster Tornado that Killed Tim Samaras
In this week’s feature, we tell the story of Tim Samaras, one of the most respected tornado scientists in the country. On May 31, he, his son Paul and chase partner Carl Young navigated back roads southwest of El Reno, Oklahoma, beneath dark, circulating clouds. Just after 6 that evening,…
Ted Nugent’s Wife Arrested in DFW Airport. Reports Say She Brought a Gun into the Terminal
Details are scant so far. A spokesperson for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport tells Unfair Park he can’t release a police report or discuss any of the facts of the case until the legal department takes a look at it. He did, however, confirm that Shemane Ann Nugent, wife of rocker…