A quick note to those of you who think the media conspire to wield undue influence on politics: You can stop now. As apparent from the past weekend’s butt-beating of the strong-mayor proposal–supported by The Dallas Morning News, us and other media folk–we couldn’t influence our way to an order…

Dallas leaders often cite Houston as a city with ideas worth copying. Houston has a strong-mayor system, for instance, and its local government corporations and municipal management districts–private/public entities used to redevelop neighborhoods–are considered by some a pattern for redeveloping Dallas’ downtown. Now comes this little gem: banning BO. Last…

The fun vote: To the people who care–chiefly Dallas officeholders and the people who own them–the vote on the city’s strong-mayor initiative is the Most Important Issue in democracy since 1776. To everyone else in the city? Eh, not so much. After the first four days of early voting, Dallas…

After living in Texas for 21 years, Buzz has grown sort of fond of the place and is a little defensive when friends and family from out of state (damn Yankees) refer to Texans as a bunch of gun-totin’ truck-drivin’ ignorant goobers. That’s why, as we read a story in…

Occasionally, Buzz is called upon to answer questions from and provide quotes to reporters from other media. We do it–would be hypocrites otherwise–but we hate it, for a couple of reasons. First, you never know what another reporter is going to do with your words. Second, in more than 20…

So the mayor of a major Bible Belt city wants a gambling casino downtown. Hmm. That sorta sounds like big news to Buzz, but what do we know? Apparently a lot less–or more, your pick–than the editors of The Dallas Morning News, which reported last Friday at the tail end…

First, Buzz offers apologies to the people who took time to talk with us last week. See, we had another column lined up about perceived bias at The Dallas Morning News, then came Al Lipscomb, so that one will have to wait. Not that we’re happy about it. Now, you…

Before we begin, Buzz would like to take a moment to say something we never thought we’d say to any woman: Paris Hilton, please keep your damn shirt on. Seriously, woman, thanks to the Internet, we’ve seen those two prostheses you call breasts more often in the past weeks than…

Buzz is a little late getting around to reporting this–been busy and all–so forgive us for sharing a little old news about a class action lawsuit filed against Belo Corp. for its recent circulation woes. You may be aware of the suit if you read the business section of The…

First, a little mundane personal anecdote: Buzz’s home was broken into a couple of weeks ago. Mrs. Buzz called 911, and the person who answered pleasantly explained that no officer would be dispatched. The incident would be handled on the phone. So what, you say? Virtually everyone has a story…

Who says Buzz can’t be helpful? Why, just this very day we’ve done our part to contribute to the city of Dallas’ democratic processes. How did we do it? With a threat, of course. Hey, whatever works. Here’s the deal: Candy Marcum, a candidate for the District 14 council seat,…

Been getting a few complaints, and some praise, for the Dallas Observer’s cover story last week, “Gay Caballeros.” Some of the complaints have been along the lines of “How dare you write a story about homosexuality among Mexican immigrants without pointing out that not all gay Latinos or even gay…

Who says Mayor Laura Miller is divisive? Under her watch–and thanks partly to her support of the strong-mayor initiative–North Dallas business people and the pro-business Citizens Council have aligned themselves with their historical opponents, Southern Dallas minority politicos and grassroots neighborhood types such as Sharon Boyd and Avi Adelman. Someone…

Here’s further proof that having professional sports franchises in your town is worth a hell of a lot of money. In its recently released budget for fiscal year 2005, the Department of Homeland Security decided to award $5 million of the $3.6 billion it set aside for its Urban Area…

Ted’s gone, splitting City Hall and heading off to train young minds in government at the University of Texas at Dallas. Mike’s gone, too, leaving DISD and serving on the board of Trammell Crow Co. A-Rod’s a Yankee now. And poor Jabari is really gone, up to that happy banana…

To all the fans, friends and family of “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott who wrote and called in to complain about our image of the slain rocker on the cover of last week’s issue, please know this: We did not, whatever you may think, shoot a photo of him lying in his…

Buzz could use some extra holiday cash, so we thought we’d try our hand at a little political consulting and share this brilliant idea we had for Mayor Laura Miller. (She pays a political consultant for his help. We figure she could slip a few bucks, a fruitcake or something…

It pains Buzz to say it, but God love those little imps with the Young Conservatives of Texas, affectionately known around the Dallas Observer offices as the “Hitler Youth.” We don’t really believe they’re fascists; we just think “young” and “conservative” is an unfortunate mix, like “middle-aged” and “punk rocker.”…

Dallas County Sheriff-elect Lupe Valdez is a lesbian. You probably knew that already, if you’ve picked up a local newspaper or watched TV news in the past month. Shoot, people in South Africa, London, Boston, New York and Melbourne, Australia, have heard that news, according to a check we did…

How did that song about the “Merry Old Land of Oz” go again? “We get up at 12 and start to work at one/Take an hour for lunch, and then at two we’re done/Jolly good fun.” Well, that pretty much describes Buzz’s workday, so maybe Mayor Laura Miller is right…

In a rare fit of civic-mindedness, Buzz voted this election, for the first time in eight years, but only because everyone else seemed to be doing it. Yet we craved more motivation than what was provided by the stiffs at the top of the tickets. If only we lived in…

Herschel Wilonsky, owner of S&W Auto Parts on Second Avenue near Fair Park, is familiar with the trash problems that plague the troubled neighborhood. Usually it’s the two-legged kind: drug addicts and hookers who roam nearby or do business on a lot he owns behind his shop. Last week, he…