From Russia With Glub, a Warning About the Trinity Toll Road

Want to know what’s really going on in Dallas? Keep an eye on Krymsk. Last Saturday more than 170 people died in flash floods in this southern Russia city. Today The New York Times reports that angry survivors think the Putin government is lying to them about a big release…

Boys Will Be Boys, So Segregate the Li’l Bastards

Never ever thought I would hear myself saying this — ever never ever. But there may be something to say for certain kinds of all boys schools. Well, that is, if there is anything good at all to say about boys, and there may not be, then maybe it’s a…

A Plan for Fair Park: Bulldoze It

Over at The Dallas Morning News uniblog, my former colleague Robert Wilonsky has an item keeping us up to date on plans to turn Fair Park in South Dallas into a year-round commercial amusement park, an idea about which I have no personal objections or, for that matter, especially strong…

GOP Arguments Against Obamacare Leave Me Empty-Handed

So I’m doing a this-hand versus that-hand thing in my head on Obamacare. Everybody says the Republicans are going to make this year’s presidential election a referendum on the Affordable Care Act. I just want to be ready. On the one hand, Affordable Care will encourage tons of poor people…

Robert Groden: The Plaza Man

In this week’s Dallas Observer, we profile 30 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Mark Graham. See the entire Dallas Observer People Issue here On November 22, 1963, the day President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot in Dealey Plaza, Robert Groden…

How to Cut the Price of Higher Ed: Don’t Pay It

So Teresa Sullivan, the president who didn’t cut costs at the University of Virginia, got her job back anyway. Meanwhile making the rounds of newspaper op-ed pages is an essay by Jeff Selingo, editorial director of The Chronicle of Higher Education, saying the way to get college costs down is…

The Light … It’s, It’s Coming!

I don’t know how to tell my wife. We’ve got to put this sucker on the market and move the hell out of here. It’s coming! It’s headed right for us! The light! The light is coming! WFAA Channel 8 news had a story last night about a rich lady…

Leslie Finical Halleck: The Chicken Quixote

In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 30 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Mark Graham. See the entire Dallas Observer People Issue here. Leslie Finical Halleck, author of research papers in plant ecology and botany, and general manager of one…

Park Department Selling White Rock Lake Down the River

The Highland Park White Rock Lake Carnival Cruise Ship story comes into tighter focus with each passing hour, and so far the real story looks a little worse with every new detail. Not to take the onus off the Parkies at all, but I’ve been getting strong indications that another…