Quick test: When you think Craig James, what comes to mind? A. SMU and New England Patriots football player and long-time sports announcer. B. Texan, father, husband. C. Who the hell is Craig James? D. Senate candidate and taxpayer. You’re right! And today, James took his “plethora of experience” to…
OK, let’s get this straight: If a natural gas company wants to sink a well within 1,000 feet of your Dallas home, that would be bad. Not healthy. Not safe. Stop it. But what if you don’t care whether your neighbor is a drilling rig? Or, perhaps you’re a developer…
MasterPlan Consulting’s Dallas Cothrum, the eyes and ears at Dallas City Hall for several energy companies interested in drilling in the city limits, is becoming quite prolific. Last week, we posted the gist of his letter to the drilling task force, which says that their recommended 1,000-foot set-back requirements from…
Crispy skinned black chicken, perfectly moist, claw still attached, over fois gras and tiny cubes of beet, their blood-like juices splattered on the plate as though the unusual dark poultry underwent a brutal execution — all topped off with a quail egg, symbolic of the chicken’s unborn chick. That was…
In the end, the Dallas City Council voted this morning to remove Municipal Court Judge Phyllis Lister Brown from the position she’s held for 17 years. But she’s not about to go quietly. Far from it. Brown landed in a legal tangle with the city when she filed her candidacy…
It happens every season. It brings out the worst in most chefs and the best in few. The winner is never predictable. The loser is often a heartbreaking surprise. The Top Chef Restaurant Wars legacy held true last night — with a “battle of the sexes” twist. The claws were…
Jack Perkins, co-owner of Dallas burger institution Maple & Motor, appreciates that a swig of Dublin Dr Pepper is just the thing to wash down a delicious burger. Once every few weeks since he opened his Maple Avenue burger shack, someone from his restaurant has made the two-hour drive to…
As he does every week, Dallas Cothrum of MasterPlan Consulting sat in the front row of the city’s gas drilling task force meeting yesterday, attentively tuning in, occasionally sighing and taking notes in order to deliver his energy company clients the latest news from the home front. Yesterday was slightly…
At 11 a.m. Friday morning, Lorene Turner got the call: Her granddaughter, Jakadrien Turner, who had run away from her Oak Cliff home and her life as a student at Kimball High School, was on a flight home from Colombia. Eleven hours later, the strong but exhausted grandmother finally walked…
Last night’s Top Chef delivered the most Texan of any conceivable Texas challenges: make barbecue that doesn’t suck and do it at one of the state’s best barbecue restaurants, Salt Lick in Austin. Oh, and make enough beef brisket, chicken and pork ribs to feed 300 people. No small task…
Ricky Dale Wyatt, wearing a sharp suit and yellow tie, walked out of the Frank Crowley Courts Building this afternoon after 31 years in prison — the longest stint served in Texas before having a conviction vacated, according to his lawyer. Previous record-holder Cornelius Dupree stood off to the side…
Last week was a bit embarrassing for Craig Watkins as his personal debt to Citibank became a public matter when The Dallas Morning News reported that he owed more than $15,000 in credit card bills, the latest in a history of financial whoopsies. The district attorney explained to Unfair Park…
If your New Year’s weekend plans include a destination in Tarrant County and you have a nasty and terribly irresponsible habit of driving drunk, your boozebaggery and bad decisions can make you famous — which is to say, infamous. The Tarrant County District Attorey’s Office will publish the names of…
The scene this mid-November night felt more like a clip from Leave It To Beaver than Law and Order. Dale Duke sat with his elderly parents eating dinner in their quiet Dallas home. A crystal vase of red roses decorated the dining room table; soft classical music played in the…
On Christmas, The Dallas Morning News gifted Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins with a big fat lump of coal in article form, detailing a lawsuit filed against him by Citibank that alleges he owes more than $15,000 on his credit card plus interest. The article, supplemented this morning by…
In the death penalty debate, Texas has a long-standing reputation for abiding by one guiding principal: an eye for an eye. But the state has increasingly chosen to holster its lethal-injection needles in recent years, with death-penalty sentences decreasing by more than 70 percent since 2003, according to an annual…
Since becoming Mayor, Mike Rawlings has been consistently passionate about a few key things: South Dallas, DISD, pizza, economic development, Halloween, ethics reform — not necessarily in that order. On Rawlings’s issues hit list, ethics reform is perhaps the most high-minded and difficult to pin down, even for the Ethics…
Back in June, the plot of land near the Cityplace DART station at Haskell and N. Central Expressway was a vacant lot with a big hole and a big plan. It would be the future site of a trolley turntable, a novelty attraction to be sure, but with the purpose…
Lounging on the couch, still rumpled and disheveled from last week’s steak dinner competition, Edward coined the gang of chefs the “dirty dozen.” “Ooohh, dirty dozen,” they laughed in unison in a perfect television moment, as though “dirty dozen” was a product placement as staged as their trusty Toyota Siennas…
Turns out, the city’s new bike plan, unanimously approved by council in June, is far more complex than drawing lines along the street in patterns deemed good ideas by city consultants. Before we get into the meat of the issue, here are some basic stats to catch you up to…
This week’s Top Chef didn’t overly Dallas-ize Dallas like last week’s — for that, we are thankful. Dean Fearing, the original chef at Mansion on Turtle Creek and the man behind Fearing’s at the Ritz-Carlton, met the chefs at Le Cordon Bleu kitchen, the alma-mater of Austin-based cheftestant Paul Qui…
At yesterday’s meeting, the council-appointed drilling task force grappled with some of the more divisive issues in front of them — and actually nailed down what they’ll recommend the council do about set-back distances and allowing disposal wells for produced frack water. As they deliberated, anti-drilling activists in the audience…
