Dallas has three options to address its $900 million in street repair needs, all of them terrible. Here’s how Councilwoman Sandy Greyson laid them out during the transporation committee’s come-to-Jesus meeting on Monday: “We can put these things in our bond program and keep increasing our debt service. We can…
It’s not entirely clear why Garland ISD turned an internal investigation into its H1-B visa program over to the feds. The district’s official line was that it “felt obligated” to tell the U.S. Department of Homeland Security based on the “recommendations of third-party legal counsel,” which was rather opaque. So…
Rewind for a moment to the morning of April 15, 2013. Tyrone Allen, 26, allegedly murders his pregnant girlfriend in Hamilton Park, then leads police on a wild 40-minute chase that ends about a block from where it began. He’s finally pulled from beneath a house and arrested after a…
William Ian Brown did not have a prescription for the single alprazolam (Xanax) pill he was allegedly carrying in his pocket when he was arrested on Sunday. A crime, to be sure, but a minor one. If prosecutors decided to pursue the case — given that it was a single…
Nine months ago, Skye Wyatt’s legal fortunes suffered what appeared to be a serious blow when the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that Kilgore ISD had violated no established law when her high school softball coaches told her mother she was a lesbian. Now, Wyatt’s…
It’s a curious phenomenon, the “death row groupies” who become enamored with men who committed some of the most vile crimes you can imagine. When Scott Peterson arrived at California’s San Quentin State Prison fresh off a conviction of murdering his wife and unborn child, he received a marriage proposal…
In sports, as in life, it’s best to avoid unforced errors. Don’t fumble the snap. Don’t foul the three-point shooter. Don’t walk in the winning run. And for the love of God don’t, 15 years after the fact, piss on the graves of a dozen college kids who died in…
Last year, the city of Dallas abruptly shut down Project Reconnect, its $1.6 million effort to help ex-prisoners get housing and job training, amidst an investigation into nepotism and misallocation of funds. The Dallas Morning News reported that the inquiry centered on $91,000-per-year director Suanne Spires Durham and the possibility…
The main danger posed by Dallas’ tepid growth is, as Councilman Scott Griggs pointed out this week, that the city will find itself without enough tax revenue to maintain its sprawling infrastructure. Raise taxes and make repairs or let things decay, either response will drive people away, crunching the budget…
If Tink Nathan doesn’t belong in the Texas Legislature, we’re not sure if anyone does. The 72-year-old Republican from Kerr County, just northwest of San Antonio, has the whole package: scraggly frontiersman beard; monogrammed Texas flag shirt; an eponymous line of hunting products derived from deer urine. He’s the guy…
There are two sides to every story, and on Thursday, District Judge Carlos Cortez’s version of what happened at his Uptown condo on the night of December 28 won out, when a Dallas County grand jury declined to indict him on charges that he choked his girlfriend and held her…
The days when you had to actually smoke marijuana to get dosed with THC ended long ago with the discovery that the chemical can be melted into butter and baked into brownies. Ganjapreneurs in Colorado are taking things to a completely different level. In Denver, you can get high via…
Every Wednesday, before and after every Dallas City Council meeting, there is an open mic session. Most of the stuff that comes up is rambling, off-topic, and beyond the scope of a municipal government’s authority (e.g. 9/11 conspiracy theories), and council members may or may not pretend to listen. Nevertheless,…
Longhorn Wrecker has a very long list of of enemies. That’s only natural in an industry predicated on holding people’s vehicles hostage for exorbitant fees, especially when you do business the way that Longhorn does business. Put another way, it will be no easy task to identify the man who…
Two days ago, Mark Cuban took time out of his busy schedule to acknowledge the existence of San Antonio and its “muddy ugly-ass River Walk.” The proper response would have a polite curtsy, if not gushing praise, from San Antonio, thanking Cuban for deigning to mention their humble burg and…
State Representative Jonathan Stickland is brash, young and cocky, just as he was when Tarrant County voters sent the 30-year-old Tea Party favorite to the Legislature two years ago. In one instance — his trailblazing email privacy bill — Stockland’s irreverence served him well, earning plaudits from civil libertarians and…
We’re not entirely sure why Denton Mayor Mark Burroughs just paid $2.2 million for a condo at Dallas’ One Arts Plaza. Vacation home? Rental property? That’s between him and the voters of Denton; the deed is now in his name, according to Dallas County records. (“My wife buys, makes over/redesigns…
On Valentine’s Day, Dallas police arrested 41-year-old Jacqueline Edwards on suspicion of setting up at least two Craigslist robberies. The news first appeared Tuesday on WFAA’s website. An hour later, DallasBlack.com had the story. Nothing particularly suspicious there. The WFAA story is little more than a summary of a arrest…
Electronic cigarettes look like cigarettes. They supply nicotine like cigarettes. Users exhale a puffy cloud like cigarettes. So they must be cigarettes, right? According to the Frisco City Council, yes. On Tuesday night, its members voted unanimously to ban the use of e-cigarettes wherever traditional cigarettes are banned — i.e…
In 2016, on a yet-to-be-determined date in June, Republicans from across the country will gather somewhere to pick their next presidential nominee. Maybe it’ll be Chris Christie. Or Rand Paul. Perhaps a Jeb Bush-Ted Cruz ticket? Yes, that last one is stupid, but so is speculating on a race that’s…
This afternoon, for the first time since a marriage equality resolution went down in flames almost a year ago, the Dallas City Council made its first official nod to LGBT equality in the form of a “comprehensive statement of support” passed by the Budget, Finance & Audit Committee. The measure…
Mike Howard is not a fan of Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne. A quick glance at the one-time Irving City Councilman’s blog (written under the nom de plum Mark Holbrook) is proof of that. But it’s one thing to lob critiques of local government from the safe confines of the…
