On Tuesday, nurses at Presbyterian Hospital voiced their complaints for the first time — in so many words. Fearful of ramifications in the workplace, nurses anonymously sent their allegations to National Nurses United, where their comments were read aloud by spokesperson Deborah Burger. The nurses silently listened in on the…
Update: DAS wants Observer readers to know that any goods or money donated on behalf of Bentley will, for the most part, go to DAS animals. “Someone has apparently misunderstood. The [Amazon] wishlist is for the shelter dogs, it’s not for Bentley. There are a few items on there for…
As Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital becomes the epicenter of the American Ebola scare, Texas Woman’s University announced yesterday that all “non-essential personnel” had been suspended until further notice from the East Dallas hospital. The university referred specifically to the 90 TWU students this decision would effect, but the announcement of…
If you’ve driven up I-35 to Denton in the last month, you may have seen one of the many billboards popping up around town. The billboards loudly proclaim the economic damage that a city ordinance banning natural gas and oil drilling could cause to the city, and encourage residents to…
If you hear the word “sanctuary” and think of the scene in The Hunchback of Notre Dame in which Esmeralda pleads with the cathedral priest for shelter (or, be honest, you think of Logan’s Run), you might be surprised to learn that actual sanctuaries are a growing movement in many…
Two weeks ago, the Vickery Meadow neighborhood was known as the United Nations of Dallas — a hodgepodge blending of immigrants and cultures from all over the world. Now, since this country’s first Ebola patient was taken ill in the neighborhood, the world associates it with “Patient Zero,” the epicenter…
Life just got a little bit worse for women in Texas — and particularly for women in Dallas County. The Texas Council on Family Violence released a study on Tuesday that shows Dallas County has the highest number of female domestic violence deaths in the state. More telling, Dallas has…
The death of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan on Wednesday morning comes as a shock, despite his infection with one of the most dangerous illnesses in the world. “When people get sick, we will recognize them. And the local health departments will go to action and do the same kind…
On Monday, Governor Rick Perry announced he will form a task force on preparedness and local response for infectious diseases that pose an active threat to Texans. The move comes in reaction to the recent Ebola case in Dallas, but many are saying that there are more important, and dangerous,…
The brand new, sparkling iPhone 6 just rolled out, and in honor of its appearance, we’ve compiled a list of the top apps your Dallas dwelling just a little bit easier. Between sports teams, arts district and more fairs and festivals than you can count, Dallas is a hell of…
Dallasites like to shop. We really, really like to shop. So when one of the world’s deadliest viruses appears within the confines of our city, we do what comes naturally. We buy things. Several emergency equipment suppliers say now that sales of hazmat suits were through the roof last week…
How much does it cost to care for a single case of Ebola in the United States? Between specialized treatment, identifying and tracking down every possible contact, decontaminating every possible touched or vomited-upon surface, the cost of containing an Ebola outbreak is substantial, though perhaps not all of the expense…
As a rule, high school sucks. Now imagine going to high school thinking you could get infected with one of the most deadly viruses known to man. There are a few caveats to that, of course. One, ebola is not nearly as deadly as we like to think — far…
On Tuesday, the Obama administration announced an initiative to allot $9 million to help unaccompanied Central American kids pay for attorney fees. The money will be given to several cities with a high population of these kids, including Dallas, over the next two years. It’s a powerful statement in getting…
For the most part it was business as usual at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on Wednesday. Patients waited to be admitted, staffers walked briskly to their cars after their long, grueling shifts end. But there was an eerie quietness in the waiting rooms and admitting areas: Besides the…
Early this morning, Dallas ISD received word from the Centers for Disease Control that five district students have been exposed to the Ebola virus. The students attend Emmett Conrad High School, Sam Tasby Middle School, Dan Rogers Elementary, and Hotchkiss Elementary. Jack Lowe Elementary, which is located close to Tasby…
A new report published by ShaleTest, an independent environmental research agency in Denton, found levels of benzene in several Denton parks that exceed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s long-term exposure limitations. Benzene is a carcinogen found in cigarettes, gasoline and is a common byproduct of oil and gas drilling…
“Universal pre-K” is the universal mantra of every school board member and education official in the city. It’s the elusive idea that all future, predominantly poor, kids in Dallas ISD will have gone through an aggressive early childhood education program, and that earlier exposure to vocabulary and learning will put…
When they come out, gay teens must often deal with unsupportive, even hostile parents. Sometimes, parents even go so far as to kick the kids out of their homes. If they attend a Dallas ISD school, they become one of the roughly 3,400 homeless students in the district. By some…
Highland Park ISD announced at the end of last week that it would be suspending seven books from the high school reading list: Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain, John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines, Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely…
In Dallas, the estimated number of homeless kids has been dismal recently. The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance reports that the population of unaccompanied homeless kids is up 108 percent in just the last few years, and the number of homeless families is up 60 percent. And a recent Department of…
Good news for E. Cannabis Unum supporters across the country: Texas, land of big businesses and economic prosperity, could stand to gain a ton of money from legalizing marijuana — more than $166 million per year, by some estimates. That’s a Texas Miracle if we’ve ever heard one. Of course,…
