Not a scene from DFW’s air traffic control, swear One week ago today, the Government Accountability Office released a report that noted the Federal Aviation Administration’s stepped-up efforts to hire new air traffic controllers, to compensate for “the projected departure of over 15,000 air traffic controllers between 2008 and 2017.”…
Yesterday in Dallas federal court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office unsealed a 71-page, 51-count indictment against 11 people the government claims defrauded banks and mortgage lenders out of millions of dollars. Among those indicted: 55-year-old Eric Rulack Farrington Jr., who, if found guilty, could wind up spending a maximum of 600…
Observer contributing photographer Brian Harkin contributes the photos for USA Today’s stories today on SMU and head football man June Jones, who figures he can get the Mustangs to a BCS bowl within the next five years. (Optimism tastes just like pineapple!) There’s also the piece headlined: “SMU spends big…
Knowing very little about this, save for what I’ve just read on the TXU Energy site, I’m intrigued by the device the Dallas-based electricity provider’s offering beginning today: the TXU Energy iThermostat. Two cool things, at first glance: Says TXU, it will allow you to “control your home’s temperature from…
Imam Safdar Razi Ali A Friend of Unfair Park sends word that Imam Safdar Razi Ali was released last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more than two months after federal authorities snatched him from his Plano home without explanation. There is but one caveat: Ali must leave the country…
Right now, the Dallas Zoo is closed but one day a year: Christmas Day. But that may change if the city can’t make up for its budget shortfall, which right now stands at, oh, $25 million, give or take. City Manager Mary Suhm will present the city council today with…
Charles Dean Hood The story of Charles Dean Hood, who was scheduled to die tonight for the 1989 murder of Ronald Williamson and his girlfriend Tracie Wallace in Plano, has garnered national attention since at least 2005, when Salon first broke the story that State District Court Judge Verla Sue…
Just don’t vomit, Bryan Lipchitz. On Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., a Sam’s Club in Plano is hosting Dallas’ first ever qualifier for the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest held each year in Coney Island, New York. Broadcast on ESPN and sanctioned by…
A page from the city’s study concerning redevelopment in the Tenth Street Bottoms I wasn’t going to write about this, because City Manager Mary Suhm assured me it was nonsense. I think she may have implied that I was nonsense too. But the church fire on Sparks Street yesterday has…
Whew — I ain’t on the city’s outstanding-warrants list, just posted to the city’s Web site as part of its threat to arrest the deadbeats. So, I dunno, you might wanna check and see if you’re on it, lest you wind up stung by the rather benignly monikered Operation Pay…
No wonder that logo looks like it’s shooting the city the bird. Doesn’t take a conspiracy theorist to see where this is headed: The Dallas Morning News is reporting this afternoon that after an exhaustive review of documents and e-mail exchanges between city council members and Live Nation staffers, it…
Snapped from Unfair Park HQ, right before it started raining. Someone call the Ghostbusters. –Robert Wilonsky…
CNN wonders: “Is America’s suburban dream collapsing into a nightmare?” By which, one assumes, they mean, oh, Frisclosure? Because mentioned in the piece is downtown Dallas’s revitalization, courtesy Schutze’s pal and New Urbanism prophet Christopher Leinberger, who says folks no longer want to live miles away from their jobs. He…
View Larger Map The Katy Building — built in 1914, making it one of the oldest buildings in downtown — is for sale, notes GlobeSt.com this morning. On the tax rolls for a couple mil, it’s going for $15 million, but only because it’s being tossed in with two other…
In case you didn’t know these were the DFW’s traffic hot spots, INRIX sends a reminder. INRIX is a formerly Microsoft-affiliated company that keeps track of traffic. And, far as it’s concerned, the Dallas-Fort Worth is a congested mess — fifth-worst in the country, matter of fact, behind only Los…
An early Unfair Park prototype, till it was schutzed. This morning, the city lays out the pros and cons concerning the Trinity River Project — if nothing else, to inform and educate those charged by the council with marketing the project to the peoples. You’ll find the talking points nestled…
This morning, USA Today gets a giggle out of 25-year-old Zach Johnson and 24-year-old Jeffrey Max, the Fatal Farm-ers behind a stack of classic-TV show-opening parodies and Mark Erickson’s Infinite Solutions, in which a bespectacled brainiac offers nonsense advice on such topics as “How to Find Dinosaur Bones” and “How…
And, yet again, the city burns in the distance — and from our vantage point, at the intersection of Oak Lawn and Maple Avenues, it looked initially as though Reunion Arena was on fire. KDFW-Channel 4 is reporting it’s God’s New Community at 320 Sparks Street off Stemmons Freeway. It’s…
Spencer Campbell From the 5th Annual Dallas City Arts Festival — swear When I turn off Flora Street and head north on Pearl Street, the crowd begins to thin out — well, the already thin crowd becomes almost non-existent. It’s Father’s Day, and I’m at the 5th Annual Dallas City…
A $4-Million Frank That’d be one Frank Catalanotto, says Forbes today on its list of sports’ “Best-Paid Bench Warmers.” Why come? Well, first off: He’s making $4 million this year. And he’s had all of 144 at-bats. And, notes Forbes, “Catalanotto has never reached 500 at-bats in a season during…
Lisa Garza, chatting up idol Martha Stewart on the Food Network last night. As it’s been a day full of actual news, it’s been difficult getting to the fluff — as in, Suze’s Lisa Garza and her vying to become The Next Food Network Star. Once more, we had a…
Mike Fuentes for Unfair Park A mid-afternoon breather after a morning full of actual news: We now direct your attention to this suitable-for-framing Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo photo, which apparently is being taken as a right cross to the jaw of one of Tony Romo’s exes, “sexy vegetarian” Carrie…
