About 20 minutes ago, we felt it at the Observer offices in Oak Lawn. Now, the United States Geological survey verifies that the mid-afternoon rumble was, in fact, an earthquake. According to the USGS, the epicenter of this quake was, as so many have been in the last six weeks…
Sustained high oil production in the Permian Basin, the Bakken region of North Dakota and Western Canada, along with the seeming willingness of OPEC to ride out the resultant plummeting oil prices mean gas prices will continue to remain below recent levels, according to GasBuddy.com’s 2015 Fuel Price Outlook. In…
From Dallas Police Department Major Max Geron, another reason for the North Texas truther brigade to get fired up: Blackhawk shooting touch-n-go’s at the Convention Center Heliport. In #BigD @DPDAir1 http://t.co/bJ8hb5x6Y4— Maj. Max Geron (@MaxDPD) January 6, 2015…
Starting with the adoption of a an equality resolution by the City Council in March, 2014 saw the city of Dallas continue to inch its way to becoming one of the most inclusive municipalities in the country. The city added health benefits for transgender city employees, made it possible for…
A little less than a year ago, the city of Dallas adopted a drought contingency plan to mitigate damage from increasingly low water levels at the city’s lakes and reservoirs. The first stage of that plan kicks in when levels are down 35 percent. In December that line was crossed;…
I’ve been a Cowboys fan since, well, I was born. I am very excited about this year’s playoff run and am feeling optimistic about the team’s chances in Green Bay on Sunday. But this, this … thing … you see in the GIF below, has got to stop. Please, God,…
At least one member of Susan Hawk’s nascent district attorney’s office couldn’t have gotten off to a more inauspicious start in his new job. Justin Moore, an SMU graduate and former Craig Watkins deputy who was kept on by Hawk, was picked up for a DWI early Sunday morning. According…
At this point, they’re not even a nuisance. The repeated small earthquakes that Dallas felt throughout 2014 haven’t caused any serious property damage or injuries. The quakes are a curiosity. They are happening more frequently, though, especially in Irving. Of the 27 earthquakes in 2014 , the last eight occurred…
I’m just going to pay the nickel. That’s what I realized, staring at a 7-Eleven sign on New Year’s Eve warning of the coming enforcement of City Council member Dwaine Caraway’s baby, the city’s carryout bag ordinance. I’m going to pay the nickel, because remembering reusable bags is hard and…
Departing: The Wright Amendment The Love Field-neutering regulation finally bit the dust on October 13, 2014. Cheap flights, from Love Field and DFW, abound. Arriving: Parking Nightmares at Love Field The downside of Wright’s removal was quickly felt. Love sold out of parking spaces Thanksgiving week and quickly announced plans…
It’s hollow succor, to be sure, but 5th Texas Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a judge made an improper ruling in the case that ended in outgoing Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins being charged with contempt of court. Watkins secured an indictment in 2011 that accused Al Hill III…
The first time any of us in the office considered that Dallas might become the Ebola epidemic’s American focal point was Tuesday, September 30. We watched Dallas County Health and Human Services director Zach Thompson brief the Dallas County Commissioners Court about the status of a then unidentified man we…
As the start of 2015 approaches, so does our state’s biennial circus, the regular session of the Texas Legislature. This session, the 84th, will feature the usual bickering over just how far social services can be slashed without turning Texas into an anarcho-libertarian hellscape and the inevitable crushing of any…
As Unfair Park looks back and counts the many blessings we’ve received in 2014, one thing we’re especially thankful for is that Glenn Beck, dadaist performance artist extraordinaire, chooses to make his home — and film all the programs for his TV network, The Blaze — in the Dallas area…
Unlike her estranged husband, Kim Williams will not go through a lengthy trial. Tuesday morning, she admitted her guilt in the murder of Mark Hasse, the Kaufman County assistant district attorney gunned down in the street in Kaufman by Eric Williams. Kim Williams drove the getaway car. During the penalty…
The Case: DeLeon vs. Perry features two sets of plaintiffs fighting for two distinct rights. Cleopatra DeLeon and Nicole Dimetman are already married. The couple seeks to force the state of Texas to recognize their Massachusetts union and grant them the rights afforded to opposite-sex married couples from other states…
The new year will ring in with two major skirmishes in the nation’s culture wars, as the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear oral arguments in one case challenging Texas’ restrictive new abortion law and another seeking to overturn the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. The…
Ron Pinkston — president of Dallas’ largest police officers’ union, the Dallas Police Association — is not going to resign. He says so, and Stephen Benavides admits as much. Benavides and the group he often represents, Dallas Communities Organizing for Change, called for Pinkston to quit after he blamed protesters…
Are strippers employees, or just independent contractors working for tips? A lawsuit filed against Dallas’ all-nude Jaguars settled on Wednesday, leaving us no answer, at least in this case. The plaintiffs in the suit, 182 women who worked for the club’s outlets in Texas and Arizona, will divvy up $1.54…
Mike Rawlings is going to finish the job he set out to do after his 2011 election whether the nattering nabobs of negativity like it or not. That’s the message set out in the mayor’s end of year address, posted on his office’s Vimeo channel over the brief Christmas respite…
One thing is clear from Dallas attorney Marcos Ronquillo’s first mayoral campaign press release: He’s looking to make his May 2015 contest with incumbent Mike Rawlings a single-issue showdown, a third referendum on the Trinity toll road. “The proposed Trinity River toll road project has been controversial from day one,”…
Late Monday night, Rolando McClain’s house went up in flames. The $1.5 million, 7,500 square foot home located in a tony neighborhood on Lake Tuscaloosa in Alabama was unoccupied, but was destroyed by the fire. Alabama officials initially said that any fire involving a vacant, expensive home is suspicious. Now,…
