Irving Is Having a Lot of Trouble Passing a Smoking Ban

For the most part, Americans have come to accept restaurant- and workplace-smoking bans. Even in freedom-loving Texas, most residents view them less as an encroachment on individual liberty than a reasonable measure to protect the health of nonsmokers, even if their politicians don’t. The alarmed cries of nanny-statism are now…

Dallas Police Are Now Posting Prostitution Ads on Backpage.com

Anyone who frequents the escort section of backpage.com probably already knows this. Ditto for anyone who has given much thought to how police vice units are adapting to an era in which much of the sex trade is orchestrated online. It bears mentioning nonetheless: The Dallas Police Department is posting…

Garland Swears it Doesn’t Really Have the Worst Drivers in Texas

Each year, Allstate comes out with a list of America’s worst drivers, and each year, Dallas is puzzled to discover it doesn’t come out on top, an honor typically reserved for Washington, D.C. That’s not to say that drivers here aren’t terrible. In this year’s report, Frisco, Plano, McKinney, Irving,…

DFW Airport is Overcharging 300 to 400 Drivers Per Day for Parking

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport’s “new, high-tech parking control plazas,” which cost $56 million and offer automated entry and exits for all visitors, were supposed to go live in late August, but the rollout was briefly pushed back because of minor technical hiccups. “The Parking Control System is a complex installation…

NTTA is Slashing Its Ridiculous Late Payment Fees — Sort Of

As anyone who’s ever forgotten to pay a toll bill or is capable of doing arithmetic knows, the eye-popping amounts owed by the North Texas Tollway Authority’s top toll violators is mostly fees. As an example, take reigning scofflaw champion Melissa Martinez. To rack up the $153,046.47 she owed the…

A Disgraced Parkland Doctor is Suing a Stripper Who Accused Him of Rape

Dr. Alireza Atef-Zafarmand played a memorable role in The Dallas Morning News’ series on sexual abuse allegations at Parkland Hospital. He’s the kidney specialist who allegedly told a bedridden patient that she looked like Julia Roberts, then grabbed her breast and wrapped his fingers around her neck, asking if she…