This space to let Federal prosecutors are challenging defense attorneys’ efforts to introduce the results of a lie-detector test into evidence in city council member Al Lipscomb’s bribery trial, The Dallas Morning News reports. The prosecutors apparently don’t think polygraph exams make good evidence. Buzz wonders, have they talked with…

Exhibit D Back when men were men, women were women, and lawyers were blessedly fewer in number, newspaper editors and reporters who offended the mighty in print stood a good chance of getting a horsewhipping. Now we’re more likely to get sued. This is yet another sign of the decline…

Now you don’t see it… And we were so getting used to its junior-high design and elementary-school writing. But it turns out we won’t have DFW Icon to kick around anymore — at least not every week. Seems the city’s latest weakly isn’t anymore: Shortly before the third issue was…

Get a grip Buzz hates being one of those guys — commonly known as “losers” or “dateless” — who laboriously explain jokes. Unfortunately, some people — commonly known as “clueless” or “Judge Darlene Whitten” — did not get, or did not appreciate, the joke behind the news story “Stop the…

Magnum CPA You would think that by now we would have lost our ability to be appalled by anything Dallas City Council members say or do. Fat chance. Buzz is talking, of course, about the move afoot either to fire City Auditor Robert Melton or to deny him a raise…

Welcome to our world In case you were wondering where your copy of DFW Icon was last week — or maybe you’re just wondering what the hell DFW Icon is this week — it turns out the newest local weekly publication wasn’t quite ready to peek out of its shell…

Paid endorsement It must have warmed Mayor Pro Tem Mary Poss’ heart: Just three weeks after she wrote a column for The Dallas Morning News’ editorial page announcing that the city’s streets were in better shape than anyone who actually drives might think, the paper published a letter filled with…

Untitled Executive assistant police chief Willard Rollins, one of the most unloved leaders in the department, finally did something to win affection from at least two of his fellow commanders — even if he didn’t mean to. When Rollins persuaded a state judge last week to give him back the…

Cash on delivery So Republicans want to put the Ten Commandments in public schools? Dallas Independent School District is already one-tenth of the way there, at least among its administrative staff. Earlier this month, DISD Chief Financial Officer Janice D. Davis sent a memo to principals, department heads, and vendors…

How can we miss you… …if you won’t go away, Paul Coggins? It seems that every three months a new rumor crops up that the Dallas-based U.S. attorney is heading off to greener pastures somewhere — a judgeship, a promotion, something. “He’s going to one of those intensive Spanish-language seminars,”…

In his own defense You would think that three death-penalty prosecutions and, finally, a no-contest plea from Kerry Max Cook would be enough to satisfy prosecutors in Tyler, who are ever looking for a way to repair their reputations as doers of justice. Yet the Smith County District Attorney’s Office…

Truth hurts Mike Howard, president of local publishing company Ringtail Productions Ltd., thought he had a pretty good deal with the nonprofit Irving Schools Foundation. The foundation’s board agreed to distribute his company’s book, Just Gimme a Zero! Teaching From the Trenches by semi-retired Irving Independent School District teacher Mary…

What’s the frequency, Abby? Abby Goldstein spent Tuesday morning fielding phone calls from friends who wanted to know just why her radio station — KKZN-FM (93.3), otherwise known as The Zone — was broadcasting audio from old Bob Newhart Show episodes. She had no idea. Goldstein, a longtime fixture in…

Try, try again It took only 22 years, three trials, and a long stretch on death row for a man who is likely innocent to be released from prison. Now another Tyler grand jury is ready to look into the Kerry Max Cook case. This time, they’re starting by reading…

Cover up They’re the hottest act in country music, selling seven million albums and winning armfuls of golden awards. Now it seems that the Dixie Chicks have gotten too big for Texas Monthly. The magazine wanted the Chicks for the cover of the September “Texas Twenty” issue, which hits the…

Bailon for the defense Word from The Dallas Morning News is that the editors there would like to find — then gut, dress, and eat — whoever has been leaking to Buzz internal newsroom memos concerning the controversy over Belo Corp.’s decision to invest in the arena and the Mavericks…

Deafening silence The cone of silence has descended on The Dallas Morning News after last week’s Buzz, a reprint of a scathing memo from the daily’s three City Hall reporters complaining about the paper’s coverage of the Belo Corp.’s decision to invest in the Dallas Mavericks and the arena. Buzz…

Trouble in paradise Think the Belo Corp.’s decision to pay $24 million cash for 12.38 percent of the Dallas Mavericks and a 6.19 percent share of The Arena Group reeks of a conflict of interest? You’re not alone. Someone from The Dallas Morning News, which is owned by Belo, anonymously…

Spanish flyways You’ve probably seen them: those sneaky ads disguised as articles that appear in newspapers. “Scientific breakthrough: Miracle drug melts pounds away,” the headline says, and there above it in tiny type is the word “advertisement.” Well, we looked in the August D magazine for the word “advertisement” on…

Judge not Your mother always warned you, girls. Once you get a bad reputation, you’ll never shake it. Just ask visiting District Judge Candace Tyson, who once again came in dead last in the Dallas Bar Association’s judicial evaluation poll. Every two years, the association quizzes local lawyers about their…

Hold these balls Guess it could have been worse. In the NBA draft last week, Dallas Mavericks head coach-general manager Don Nelson picked an 18-year-old kid and a 7-foot-1 Chinese player named Wang Zhi-Zhi. So much for the saying, “He has a [politically incorrect term for Asian’s] chance of playing…

Hallelujah Even Buzz isn’t averse to a little prayer when our back is against the wall. This usually happens on Tuesday, long after deadline, when our editor asks us whether this column is ready yet. “Just a minute,” we lie, then dash off a quick prayer, hoping for something –…