Remember that time last summer, back when her epic filibuster against sweeping abortion restrictions gripped the nation and roused Texas’ long-slumbering Democratic Party, when it seemed like Wendy Davis had a shot of becoming governor? Well, here’s a flying roundhouse kick of reality, courtesy of Chuck Norris:…
Vic Holmes and Mark Phariss, the gay Plano couple suing to overturn Texas’ ban on same-sex marriage, will be in San Antonio on Wednesday trying to convince a federal judge to allow their case to continue. The battle lines are familiar by now. Gay marriage, proponents say, is a constitutionally…
Dallas ISD graduation rates are up. The percentage of kids dropping out keeps going down. That’s undeniably good news, but what about the bigger picture? Are local kids going on to get college degrees that will allow them to compete for decent jobs in an increasingly knowledge-based economy? The answer,…
No one who knows former Dallas City Council member Sandra Crenshaw would dispute her intelligence or obsessive dedication to public service. It’s her long and well-documented history of erratic behavior, the most recent case involving the alleged theft of a rental car, that raises questions about her fitness to hold…
The freezing drizzle that rolled into town on Monday evening was, as far as recent North Texas winter storms go, a mild one. No coating of ice snapping tree limbs, no blanket of snow, just a really cold mist. It was just enough to ice over the flyovers where Highway…
Developers have been bitching about Dallas’ tree-preservation rules since they were first put in place two decades ago. Though the regulations are fairly light (trees of certain desirable species must be replaced or offset by a contribution to the city’s reforestation fund), they’ve been loath to accept the notion that…
When DART updated nearly half of its bus fleet in 2012 and 2013, it opted for vehicles fueled by compressed natural gas. But fossil fuels are so 20th century, hence the transit agency’s just-announced plans to add all-electric buses. DART isn’t about to electrify its entire fleet. The plan right…
On Saturday night, SMU’s men’s basketball team beat a Top 10 opponent for the first time in 27 years, and it wasn’t even close. The Mustangs jumped to a 14-point halftime lead over Cincinnati and never looked back, ultimately winning by 21. It was the team’s biggest statement yet, proof…
Councilman Philip Kingston’s lonely quest to kill off the Lawn Whisperer appears like it’s doomed to fail. Mr. Whisperer, a character in advertisements, features prominently in the city’s long-term water-conservation plan, which was briefed to the City Council’s Quality of Life Committee this morning. But it looks like Dallas Water…
Generally speaking, the Dallas Police Department does Twitter pretty well. Helmed by a chief who uses it to live-tweet disciplinary hearings and set up lunch dates with reporters at Chili’s, and who isn’t afraid to drop a “cocksucker” every now and then, DPD’s output is timely and detailed enough to…
Last week, University of North Texas grad Johnny Quinn was an unknown, just another one of the 1,200 or so Americans competing in the Winter Olympics America has never heard of. Then, the McKinney-raised bobsledder escaped a Sochi bathroom by busting Kool-Aid Man-style through the door…
Before the ink on A.C. Gonzalez’ $400,000 contract was even dry, some were suggesting that the $95,000 gap between his salary and predecessor Mary Suhm’s might have something to do with their different gender. Here’s former City Councilwoman Veletta Lill commenting to KERA that “it looks like they didn’t value…
Remember Brian Aiken? He’s the guy who shot the mesmerizing “Dallas From Above” video. See also: A Photographer Used a Drone to Shoot a Video of Dallas, and It’s Awesome Well, he’s done it again. And by “it” we mean use a camera-equipped drone to shoot incredible aerial footage of…
There’s not a whole lot of daylight between the Republican candidates for lieutenant governor. All check the requisite conservative boxes on guns, abortion, immigration, healthcare, evolution, school choice, the size of government and so on. That said, GOP voters still have a choice for the March 4 primary. They can…
There’s an argument to be made that Stephen A. Smith, one of ESPN’s more voluble talking heads, is qualified to talk about sports. Reasonable people can (and do) disagree, but Smith has spent two decades as a professional sports journalist and his continued employment by the country’s biggest sports network…
When I woke up this morning and my journey to the backyard to let the dogs out confirmed what Pete Delkus had foretold — that it was really cold — the plan was to hunker down, put on an extra pot of coffee and blog from home. Then, I saw…
Ethan Couch, the 16-year-old from Keller who drunkenly ran over four pedestrians, then got probation after pleading affluenza, was back in court yesterday to learn the conditions of his sentence. Reporters were barred from the courtroom by District Judge Jean Boyd, who, according to the Tarrant County DA’s office, ordered…
Last year, Dallas’ Woodrow Wilson High School received a cease-and-desist letter from the University of Arizona declaring that the school was infringing on its trademarked wildcat logo. The university agreed, reluctantly, to let Woodrow keep the big tile mosaic on the high school’s floor, but all other uses of the…
The Dallas City Council sealed the deal today with newly minted City Manager A.C. Gonzalez, approving his employment contract. The main thing you need to know about the deal is that it’s a big one: $400,000 per year in base salary, plus benefits not enumerated in City Attorney Warren Ernst’s…
Do you love Dallas? Do you have thousands of dollars to burn? Do you love to burn that money on frivolous things? Then we’ve got good news for you. The state of Texas is currently auctioning off a “Dallas” vanity plate. Bidding starts at $1,000. How high will it go?…
There’s always been something pleasantly nostalgic about the name of the Texas Rangers’ stadium. The Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, like its red-brick facade, harkens back to simpler times, back before corporations plastered their names on every possible piece of sports-related real estate. Never mind that this peanut-and-Cracker Jack simplicity hasn’t…
Michael McDowell could have quit while he was ahead. During more than a decade spent posing as a military officer, he’d won heartfelt acclaim from military brass like CIA director David Petraeus, gotten behind-the-scenes access to the Washington Navy Yard, convinced the state of Texas to give him special Purple…
