Critics of the Texas Industries cement plant in Midlothian have obtained company documents that appear to bolster their contention that TXI officials distorted information about health hazards posed by the plant’s emissions. The information comes as TXI opponents prepare their final challenge of TXI’s attempt to win a 10-year state…

It was time for the clock on Amarillo’s 15 minutes of fame to start ticking. A herd of reporters had gathered at Amarillo International Airport for the arrival of Oprah Winfrey, who was flying into town January 19 to defend herself against accusations that she had libeled beef. It was…

On this cold January morning, patches of steam rise from the ground that separates the homes of Charlotte Parkhurst and Mike Rhoads, two Pleasant Grove neighbors who are in the most unfortunate predicament of being stuck with each other. Their homes sit atop the second-highest point in Dallas, a hill…

Unless you were a law enforcement official, it used to be next to impossible to find out if a person was convicted of a crime in Texas, but a new state database may soon make that information available to anyone who has access to the Internet. In January, the Texas…

Most everyone laughed as the squad of men in ski masks and police flak jackets quickly weaved through the dance floor, parting a sea of scantily clad werewolves, devils, and nurses jammed inside the Jet Set for a Halloween party. Great gag, they thought, dressing up as vice cops and…

After six months of turmoil that turned neighbor against neighbor, sister against sister, the tiny town of Bethel, population of maybe 210, is no longer a town. In a Grayson County courtroom packed with more than 100 protesters and staffed with extra sheriff’s deputies, Visiting District Judge John McCraw on…

The night Frederic Martin became an outlaw, a furniture rebel, was wonderfully serene, perfect to spend in a park. By 8:00 p.m. on September 16, a cool breeze had swept away the day’s heat and a full moon was climbing above the live oaks that dot the neatly manicured landscape…

The August meeting of the Swiss Avenue Historic District Association took place, as usual, inside the quaint “garden room” of the Aldredge House, a 17-room mansion well known for its exclusive black-tie receptions and ball-gown affairs.MMMXNormally, the sound of clinking champagne glasses and carefree laughter would have filled the estate’s…

He walks with a slight limp, as though the floor were tilted. He cannot sit his 6-feet-5-inch, 255-pound frame for more than 30 minutes in one stretch; anything more, and the pain sometimes becomes too much to bear. Sometime in the near future, the 33-year-old will have to have his…

The McKinney doctor who slashed a man’s throat during a 1996 barroom brawl has escaped a felony conviction, but he is no longer allowed to practice medicine in Texas. The Texas State Board of Medical Examiners indefinitely suspended Dr. John Hargett’s medical license because of Hargett’s “intemperate use of alcohol…

The car is a beauty, no doubt. A 1975 slant-nose Porsche, painted white. Brown leather seats, deep and snug. Its round rear end fitted with a spoiler, creating an image of speed and mobility. Freedom, really. The car’s driver also is a beaut. Robin Cook. A tall, slender man with…

There is every indication that Bill Simpson is inside his closet-like office on this steamy July afternoon, shortly before 3 o’clock. Simpson had just left a message with a reporter, indicating that he was back from an appointment and could be reached at his office, which is located in a…

Lillie Gallatin was 100 years, six months, and two days old when she quietly passed away last summer. A blood clot finally got the best of the spry woman, who worked in her garden right up until she departed. Gallatin’s passing was a terrible loss, but her daughter, Cora Barnes,…

Folks like Larry Schone and his wife, Ruth, thought 60 miles would be far enough away from Dallas to enjoy the peace and quiet of country life. Now, they’ve gone and founded a damn town, ensuring that nothing will be quiet for a long, long time. The Schones and others…

There will be no sweetheart deal in Austin for Dallas businessman William “Sonny” Oates this year. Last Friday, Governor George Bush vetoed a nifty little piece of legislation that would have made Oates a small fortune and cost the citizens of Texas millions of dollars in new document filing fees…

Jeanne Rivers does not profess to be a scientist, but she does know that her six-year-old son, Shawn, didn’t have tungsten and trichlorethylene in his blood two years ago, before the family moved within shouting distance of Texas Industries’ Midlothian cement plant. Now, there are traces of the potentially harmful…

Part One Beneath the smokestacks of Texas Industries’ Midlothian plant, four giant kilns operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The massive ovens burn at the hellish temperature of 2,800 degrees–hot enough to bake rock. A mixture of limestone, shale, sand, and water is blended and cooked until…

A sudden burst of democratic fervor appears to have gripped the homeless population of Dallas, some of whom felt an urge this past weekend to rush to the polls and cast ballots in the contentious District 2 city council race between businesswoman Brenda Reyes and Dallas lawyer John Loza. Most…

Just as the sun was setting, about 20 members of the Mill Creek Homeowners Association gathered two weeks ago in Laura Carr’s merlot-colored living room, which was aglow from the subtle flickers of three white candles on the dining room table. Three Dallas city council hopefuls had come to Swiss…

Dallas businessman William Oates–“Sonny,” as he is known to friends and associates–says he is gravely concerned about all the old paperwork crumbling and decaying in county courthouses across Texas. Binders full of old deeds, land records, tax liens, and other documents faithfully recording the important business transactions of Texas citizens…

Betty Culbreath sits intently on the edge of her chair, her elbows planted on her desk and drawn tightly to her coiled frame. Tension emanates from her, like beams from the virescent lamps used to zap germs in the tuberculosis clinic several floors below her office in the county Health…