You may have seen some of the breathless headlines. “In the heat of summer, Forbes says Dallas is cool.” “No surprise that Texas has some of the coolest cities in America.” “Dallas Among Top 10 ‘Coolest Cities in America’.” But here’s the deal, Dallas: Houston and Austin have both outcooled…
Exactly one year ago, Dallas ISD’s Student Intake Center began taking responsibility for every immigrant student coming into the district. The Center focuses on processing the kids who have never attended American schools before, by checking immunization records and other documents, and evaluating their level of education. The Center is…
Just a few weeks after Denton failed to pass a ban on fracking, the Texas Railroad Commission is proposing tighter regulation on oil and natural gas drilling in response to the north Texas earthquakes. At its monthly meeting yesterday, the commission accepted a new set of rule proposals regarding regulation…
Dallas is among the 10 best cities in the country for young people to buy a home, according to a new National Association of Realtors report. “Buying a home,” if you’re under 35, is an old-timey activity practiced mostly by your parents and grandparents, sort of like using a rotary…
Ixar, a slight, gangling teenager, nervously fidgeted in his chair as Judge Michael Baird stared him down. Babies’ cries could be heard echoing through the halls, but it did not break the formal tension within the courtroom. Ixar’s eyes flashed between the translator and Baird. He had come a long…
In Texas, we already knew there was plenty of work to be done to alleviate the tired and overburdened public mental health care system. In Dallas, we know that we have the same stretched resources that are reported statewide, but in addition we have also not received the majority of…
Guns, most people seem to agree, should be handled carefully. Drunks, most people seem to agree, are not generally known for their powers of caution. But at least one DFW gun club has decided that, hey, you know what would be a nice addition to Texas gun shows? Booze. Alcohol…
A recent video compilation of a UT-Dallas professor’s research is making the Internet rounds. The film charts complex mathematical data to show where 150,000 “notable individuals” in art history have been born and died. That includes artists, architects, actors and other leaders in cultural history. The information has one glaring…
A new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) collects data from each state to determine the use of alcohol and drugs. Among the findings? We Texans like our booze, and we like a lot of it. The report divides the findings by age group and…
We already knew homosexuality was pretty much the same thing as alcoholism. But now, top Texas GOP leaders inform us that allowing gay marriage would be akin to allowing polygamy, incest and pedophilia, according to a brief filed by members of the Texas Conservative Coalition in support of Texas’ ban…
Texas has the highest processing fees for home loans in the nation, according to a recent Bankrate report, but don’t bother asking why. The banks won’t tell you. The report zeroed in on closing costs — the combination fees charged by lenders for processing plus third-party fees for things like…
The Little Free Library project has established a national reputation for encouraging local literacy among kids. The Wisconsin-based group was founded in 2009 and encourages neighborhoods to set up small boxes of books for kids to read and return. The idea of the Little Free Library project is that people…
If you’ve stumbled on the nightly news or a daily paper of late, you’ve heard of the Surge: the wave of Central American children who are arriving, often alone, at the Texas border, and walking right into the arms of Border Patrol agents. To follow the news is to believe…
The highly anticipated Amazon same-day delivery service begins today in Dallas, Baltimore, Indianapolis, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. It’s an extension of the delivery service that was launched in four West Coast cities earlier this year. And with this official announcement, couch potatoes across Dallas no longer have…
For decades, the passenger railway system in the United States has been in decline. But dreams of a high-speed railway across Texas have persisted, and with a rapidly increasing population and accompanying traffic woes, it’s becoming increasingly necessary. Between a recent announcement of an environmental study and concrete funding plans,…
If you think more poor people are living in the DFW area in recent years, you could be spot-on. Heck, after the 2008 recession you could be one of them. According to a recent Brookings Institute study, DFW, land of the suburbs, is quickly turning into the land of the…
Everyone who knew him could agree that Odell Lee was a nice guy. He was known to pull out his own wallet if you told him money was tight. He would offer you one of his cigarettes when the two of you were talking. He made a point to be…
If you had planned to drive anywhere near Interstate 35W in Fort Worth and Denton County this weekend, we and the Texas Department of Transportation have one request: Don’t. Really. Please, just don’t. You may have seen some of the warning signs flashing from Waco to Denton County, telling drivers…
For the last month, Dallas has been buzzing with plans to temporarily shelter thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children. Some 60,000 kids are expected to flow into the United States this year, and Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins’ hotly debated plan would have provided temporary relief for stressed border resources, in…
A state study released yesterday found that from 2002 to 2011, the female breast cancer rate for Flower Mound residents was significantly higher than surrounding areas.Even better? Officials have no idea why. Last April, after allegations of a faulty previous study, the Department of State Health Services agreed to conduct…
The first sight at the Dallas Animal Services shelter is a group of kittens tumbling on each other as they play in a plate glass cage. Beyond that, and closest to the entrance, are the young, healthy, friendly, especially cute and wide-eyed cats and dogs. Parents with young kids peruse…
The Cotton Bowl was filled with 57,000-plus soccer fans last night, there to see some of the world’s greatest footballers do some very mediocre footballing. It was slow and scoreless for the first hour or so, until Roma’s Francesco Totti scored at the 58-minute mark. Fans were irritated and bored…
