Struggling to remain viable since losing its Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation this summer, Paul Quinn College yesterday announced a major fund-raising milestone. The historic black college has raised more than $1 million since July, when the Texas Legislative Black Caucus rallied behind the foundering 137-year-old institution. School…
Moments ago, U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma Ramirez ruled that there’s probable cause to try 19-year-old Jordanian Hosam Maher Smadi for allegedly trying to blow up Fountain Place in downtown Dallas almost two weeks ago. Smadi, slight and impassive in his orange jumpsuit, was solemn as he listened to an Arabic…
Sure, our economy’s grim, but consider this: In Haiti, 80 percent of the population lives under the poverty line and two-thirds lack formal jobs. Altering such circumstances is the mission of the Chiapas Project, a local micro-finance group that raises money for loans to impoverished women in Latin America. While…
Since the popular mind has been consumed by rising unemployment and the health-care debate, comprehensive immigration reform — and any potential momentum to broker a bipartisan compromise on the explosive issue — has been shoved to the wayside. Yet a network of faith-based groups that have advocated for immigrants is…
The Wells Fargo bank tower off Highway 183 in Irving, an ordinary office building in a sea of concrete, isn’t the sort of place you’d expect to find a zen-like sanctuary with roots in Gandhi’s India. But that’s exactly what lies on the top floor: Here, Dr. Om Prakash, an…
Kim Nimon, assistant professor in the department of learning technologies at the University of North Texas, is emerging as a national voice on what’s becoming an increasingly common and potentially controversial practice: companies hiring chaplains to minister to workers. In this month’s Annals, the quarterly publication of the American Psychotherapy…
I’m on my way to see a Delhi-born meditation guru who once worked for Gandhi and who specializes in the virtues of discipline and peace. Naturally, I’m late. I slept through two alarms and turned off the third, woke up an hour later, and now I’m speeding west on Highway…
On Friday evening, dozens of nature lovers and art fans converged on Fair Park’s Texas Discovery Gardens for the opening of Global Swarming, a show of oil and encaustic artwork that explores Colony Collapse Disorder, the mysterious phenomenon that’s destroying bee colonies worldwide and has farmers in a panic. The…
In a small meeting room at Dallas Independent School District headquarters this afternoon, Ron Price addressed reporters and a half-dozen cameras to explain why — on the eve of the deadline to file for re-election as District 9 trustee — he’s ending his 12-year run on the school board. “I…
At an afternoon press conference at the Cotton Bowl, where city officials gathered to officially announce next month’s double-header soccer game at the 77-year-old stadium, Mayor Tom Leppert emphatically dismissed a reporter’s suggestion that it may be tough for the recently rehabbed Fair Park relic to compete with Jerry Jones’…
The plot of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks sounds oh-so-vagely reminiscient of The Graduate. “A widow decides to reawaken her ballroom dancing skills and finds a young man to tutor her in her Florida condominium,” the description reads. Maybe, probably, we’re just being crass, but Theatre Three’s description does…
This morning at City Hall, the Park and Recreation Department’s Planning and Design Committee authorized the acquisition of the last piece of land the city needs for the long-planned, $9 million Pacific Plaza Park project. Right now, it’s just a parking lot west of Live Oak and St. Paul streets…
Senator and gubernatorial hopeful Kay Bailey Hutchison used her appearance today at the Transportation Summit to establish her cred as someone committed to “a state-of-the-art transportation system” while knocking Rick Perry’s support for tollways and the Trans Texas Corridor. Speaking at the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Las Colinas, Hutchison said…
Earlier this year, Southern Methodist University graduate Teresa Nguyen and her sister, soldier Ty Reed, began importing handicrafts made by female Iraqi artists. Reed had discovered a community of talented women — many of them widowed during the war and struggling to feed their children — while on her third…
You might remember the headlines back in May about some unsavory accusations against the Dallas Mexican Consulate — the ones that dubbed the place “a lawless world where rules do not exist, where corruption, ethical violations, bribery and kickbacks reign supreme?” In the last few months, we’ve covered the story…
I never saw Mamma Mia! onstage, but I did enjoy Meryl Streep’s performance in the movie (which, since it was filmed in the Greek islands, is chock-full of amazing scenery that will make you want to hop on a plane to get the hell outta Dodge and into the Greek…
The whole sordid story began with a pile of concrete and a malfunctioning Bobcat. On a hot, sticky Monday in mid-August 2006, crews in downtown Dallas were hard at work renovating The Merc—the distinctive World War II-era bank tower known for its clock and spire. Mid-redo, the historic building resembled…
Family law judge David Hanschen may have received an “Excellent” job approval rating of just 14 percent on the Dallas Bar Association’s 2009 Judicial Evaluation Poll, but he’s celebrating a victory in what had been a bitter struggle for him just last year. After facing off with the Office of…
We just got word that Kim Rivera, the 27-year-old soldier and mother of three who deserted to Toronto and who you’ll remember from “Gimme Shelter,” cover story from the paper version of Unfair Park back in March, has gotten one last chance to stay in Canada. On Tuesday a Canadian…
On Saturday afternoon, around 100 people gathered at Dealey Plaza to protest the Iranian government and show support for pro-democracy demonstrators in that country, where the regime has been retaliating against widespread protests since the June 12 election. Saturday’s demonstration, one of several locally in recent weeks, was part of…
Yesterday, in an Oak Cliff Justice of the Peace courtroom, two tenants celebrated a victory in their quest for decent living conditions. Judge Juan Jasso ruled in favor of Ramona Robles and Rigoberto Gutierrez, who, after filing complaints with the city about unbearable temperatures at their Lancaster Avenue apartment building,…
This morning at Dallas Area Rapid Transit HQ, president Gary Thomas lauded the rail expansion as “on time and under budget,” and presented a new study by professors at the University of North Texas’s Center for Economic Development and Research on the expansion’s economic impact on the city. Said Thomas:…
