Remember A.M. Journal Express? No? Oh, c’mon, you remember. The free daily news-in-brief “commuter” newspaper launched in Dallas last November? It was available on street corners for about four months before folding. You must have seen it. Maybe you didn’t. Now you might get a second chance. Bill Hawkins, chief…
It’s a harsh job, this news business, exposing the shameful secrets of officeholders. We sometimes shudder at the truths we reveal, like this one: Congressman Martin Frost is–brace yourselves–a Democrat! OK, so maybe that’s not a big secret, but judging by the forest of campaign yard signs that have sprouted…
For the second time this month, the Texas Supreme Court, that oh-so-wise crew of legal geniuses, has handed the Dallas Observer a victory in a libel case. Hey, it’s good to know that some government agencies work, and we mean that sincerely, without bias. On September 10, the Supreme Court…
On Friday, a unanimous Texas Supreme Court, with one justice abstaining, sided with the Dallas Observer and ruled 8-0 that Denton County District Attorney Bruce Isaacks and County Court at Law Judge Darlene Whitten are “big doodyheads who need to grow up, get a sense of humor and act like…
Grow your hair for peace, John Lennon once suggested. That, um, didn’t work out so well. Maybe cutting your hair for Democrats is a better idea. Maybe. Jonathan Van Voorhees, a former Dallas City Council candidate and hairstylist in the heart of Republican Richardson, is offering a free cut and…
Buzz still has some loose ends to tie up in the ongoing Dallas Morning News circulation scandal: Something you didn’t read in the DMN’s story about advertiser reparations (they’re gonna take a $26 million hit because of rebates and credits to advertisers over inflated circulation numbers) is that the Audit…
Conservative local political blogger Sharon Boyd (www.dallasarena.com) sometimes reminds Buzz of the Terminator. No matter how hard you knock her down, up, up she comes again, ready for another pointless sequel. Sometimes we wonder why she bothers, particularly now. Boyd recently filed a lawsuit against DISD trustee Jose Joe May,…
It’s been a while since Buzz checked in with Belo. Maybe that’s because the new, well-received managing editor at the The Dallas Morning News, George Rodrigue, has so far impressed newsroom naysayers. (Note to them: You know Buzz appears every week, don’t you?) Finally, though, word comes of recent unrest…
Over the weekend, the news flashed all over the world. The Guardian in London, the Star Phoenix in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CNN and The Washington Post all ran stories saying that charges against Joanne Webb, infamous dildo saleswoman of Burleson, have been dropped by the Johnson County Attorney Bill Moore. In…
You think you have problems in your neighborhood? Crack houses? Rat-infested vacant lots? Listen, wuss, you don’t know how mean the mean streets of the city can get, and if you don’t want to find out, then don’t ever, ever touch one bloom on a crape myrtle. Someone should have…
Listen up, conservative people, could you please give the ol’ Buzzer a break and stop being so damned nice and reasonable when we call you? It would make our job–i.e., flinging stones at you–much easier if you would give us a little more rabidity and a little less rationality. What…
We all know that it’s illogical to compare apples and oranges. Anyone who would attempt to draw a comparison between two such dissimilar things is a fool. But that’s never stopped Buzz before, so here goes. See, we were talking on the phone Monday with Mario Hernandez, president of the…
It’s a tough life being in a rock-and-roll band. Endless days on the road, long nights in smoky clubs, the occasional beating by thugs who don’t like your politics. You’re probably wondering what we mean by that last one. Well, we’re talking about Lillian Berlin, singer for the band Living…
Buzz is nothing if not a great Monday-morning quarterback. Example: Last week, KERA radio convened a “state of the local media” powwow. One of the participants was James Moroney III, publisher of The Dallas Morning News. Moroney took exception to the other panelists and callers when they suggested the paper…
First the good news, for those of you who like a little choice in your democracy: The Texas Libertarian Party has collected more than enough signatures to place its candidates on the November ballot and is awaiting qualification by the Texas secretary of state’s office. It was touch and go,…
So Ted Benavides hired a white guy to be chief of police? Wow, we didn’t see that coming. Our money was on former San Jose Chief Louis Cobarruviaz; Dallas has had tons of white chiefs and one black chief. The Hispanic population is booming, so picking a Latino seemed to…
Among the miles of sentences The Dallas Morning News has constructed about the proposed Dallas Cowboys stadium at Fair Park, here’s one that caught Buzz’s attention: “The footprint for the project, which would be north of the midway, would affect some areas of the park, including the sheep and cattle…
When we last visited the hamlet of Burleson–in last week’s cover story, “Sex Toy Story” by Glenna Whitley–the big question on many minds was whether Chris and Joanne Webb are “swingers.” In a just world, the only answer required would be “none of your damn business, Bub,” but this is…
We’re not a big fan of parties and festivals here at Buzz, and not because we’re misanthropic. Well, not solely because we’re misanthropic. We also happen to believe that organized group festivities are generally a bad idea. Nearly every story we’ve heard of wildly inappropriate or dangerous behavior–getting way too…
Last week Jim Schutze wrote about open-records guru Russell Fish getting booted from his apartment for speaking up at a management-sponsored crime meeting (“Scapegoats,” March 25). Fish got steamed and walked out when he discovered that the so-called Crime Watch meeting at Celery Stalk Apartments in North Dallas was really…
We here at the Dallas Observer do read and sometimes even care about the letters you send us; they serve as a handy barometer of how we’re being received. So with that in mind, we’d like to ask a question: What is up with you people? Sorry. Shouldn’t criticize the…
Buzz is going to keep it short this week because we have a whopper of a headache, thanks to one Larry S. Kilgore, Republican candidate for the Texas House. It’s not his fault, really. When we spoke to Kilgore about his problem–we’ll get to that in a bit; hang on–he…
