If there was ever any doubt that the debate over the fudged details in Wendy Davis’ bio had completely jumped the shark, confirmation came this week in the form of unsolicited parenting advice the Democratic gubernatorial candidate was offered by Bristol Palin. Yet the story continues, feeding on itself in…
Pro tip: When planning a bank heist, it’s best to eliminate or conceal any distinguishing features that might help cops identify you later. Exhibit A is this Fort Worth bank robber’s grotesque salt-and-pepper facial hair. Yes, the powder blue sweats are suitably nondescript, and the beanie-over-the-eyes trick is a nice…
A Dallas police officer was arrested today for allegedly raping a woman he’d pulled over. According to a DPD news release, officer La’cori Johnson stopped a vehicle on the 9300 block of Larga Drive on September 9, 2013. Johnson told the woman driving the car that she had an outstanding…
For a portrait of the Kafkaesque nightmare criminal residency restrictions can create, go read about the permanent sex offender camp that took root several years ago beneath Miami’s Julia Tuttle Causeway. Thanks to a local ordinance barring them from living within 2,500 feet of any place that children congregate, there…
For the past year Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc., one of the two big players in the red-light camera industry, has been embroiled in a bribery scandal in Chicago. The company, according to news reports, treated a senior transportation official to lavish vacations and had an unusually close relationship with bureaucrats…
In a secret underground lair somewhere deep below Europe, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is hunched over a map of Mansfield, Texas, an evil glimmer lighting his eyes. A mirthless chuckle escapes his lips as he presses pencil to paper. Lubbock County Judge Tom Head may have sniffed out his…
KERA’s hour-long debate between the four Republican lieutenant-governor hopefuls was, as expected, a desperate scramble to the right. On issue after issue — evolution, abortion, immigration — the candidates studiously avoided any hint of moderation. Nowhere was that clearer than in their answers to the first question of the day:…
According to YouTube, where the video was posted on Saturday, it happened at Peter Piper Pizza in Burleson. During a kid’s birthday party. We don’t know the exact circumstances surrounding the brawl but, in this case, how much context do you need?…
With the knockout game having officially arrived in Dallas, and with the two documented cases here occurring in restaurant parking lots in northern Dallas, it would be only natural to assume that the man beaten with a baseball bat outside Smashburger on McKinney Avenue is a victim. Yet that doesn’t…
In the weeks since marijuana became legal in Colorado, there have been a thick plume of stories on how to plan a pot-smoking vacation. Even The Dallas Morning News, which still blanches at the notion of fully legalized pot, offered a buyer’s guide. The pot tourism boom, however large it…
When First Baptist’s Robert Jeffress proclaimed a couple of weeks back that President Obama is “paving the way for the antichrist,” we dismissed it as a publicity stunt designed to sell copies of his new book on the end times. Not everyone was so quick to call Jeffress’ claim empty…
The lawsuit filed last year by Bush Library protesters alleging that Dallas’ ordinance banning hand-held signs from within 75 feet of highways violated the First Amendment has been in a holding pattern for several months while the city worked to revise its rule. That process wrapped up last week when…
Finally, after nearly two months being kept on life support, Marlise Munoz will be allowed to die. Just after 4:15 p.m., a Tarrant County Judge sided with Munoz’ family, declaring her legally dead and ordering her removed from support. The decision came after less than an hour of debate. Fort…
The circumstantial evidence against Charles Stobaugh is damning. His estranged wife, Kathy, was last seen on the night of December 29, 2004, setting out for his isolated farmhouse to discuss their divorce, set to be finalized the next day. Add in his domineering personality and his evident heartburn at the…
For 15 months, Sidelines Private Sports Lounge provided what it billed as “South Side’s Version of Upscale,” which included drinks, dancing, Madden tournaments and exotic dancers performing on the establishment’s prominent stripper pole. The problem, according to Dallas police, is that it was operating illegally, and it was doing just…
Yesterday, with the state’s attention still glued to Wendy Davis’ Trailergate, competing groups attempted to roll Greg Abbott’s wheelchair into the gubernatorial debate. First came James O’Keefe’s latest undercover video showing a Battleground Texas volunteer identified as attorney Lisa Wortham (the “Lewisville Team Leader”) saying “I’m really wondering how this…
Consolidating Dallas ISD’s administrative departments, currently sprawled across 32 buildings in various states of disrepair, is a no-brainer. Putting them in a $13 million downtown office tower, as district administrators are proposing, is probably as good an option as any. Trustees just aren’t sure that doing so one week after…
Google “Colten Moore” and you’ll find that there are two young North Texas men of that name currently making headlines. One, 24, from Krum , just scored an inspiring snowmobiling victory at the X Games, one year after brother Caleb was killed trying to do the same. The other, 18,…
Jim Mitchell is a voice of moderation on The Dallas Morning News’ editorial board, generally sticking to the middle ground and getting major points for not being Tod Robberson. True to form, the argument he lays out today on the DMN’s opinion blog, that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis’ aggressively…
A good politician knows how to do two things: pander to his base and, on occasion, be able to get things done. With that in mind, we predict a bright future for TCU student body President Cody Westphal. TCU students have long complained about the university’s abrasive, single-ply toilet paper…
Mark Crutcher, the founder of Denton’s Life Dynamics, is famous for using clever (i.e. underhanded) strategies in his fight to end abortion. But his new venture, which debuted this weekend at Dallas’ March for Life, is quite direct. Dubbed Bikers for Life, the organization aims to use motorcycles to keep…
It’s not often that Texas Governor Rick Perry has occasion to wax at length about his views on drug policy, but when you find yourself in Davos, Switzerland, on a World Economic Forum panel devoted to the “drug dilemma,” there isn’t much else to talk about. This morning’s discussion (it…
