It took long enough, but the Dallas City Council finally got around to the parking-lot booting ordinance — and it passed council almost unanimously. There was but one “nay” vote: newcomer Ann Margolin, who said, well, “I understand there has been a lot of work to get this done, but…
The city council this morning approved three-year contracts totaling $5.3 million with 14 area nonprofit groups — including The Salvation Army and Central Dallas Ministries — to provide assistance to those on the verge of becoming homeless and folks recently finding themselves homeless. The council’s Quality of Life & Government…
I headed out to Arlington this morning for a detailed tour of Cowboys Stadium, the guts of which I’ll pour into a Dallas Observer cover story on Sept. 10. While I’m there, obviously, I’ll get some answers and insights into the video boards. I heard owner Jerry Jones on 105.3…
Waaaay back in May ’07 I wrote about the late, great John Peel — the Liverpudlian who made a stopover in Dallas in the early 1960s before becoming “The Most Important DJ in Rock History,” per the subtitle of the book by and about the great man behind, natch, The…
You probably had no idea that since May 30, the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs has been holding town hall meetings to discuss the Asian American Cultural Center. Then again, you probably didn’t know the city was hoping to build an Asian American Cultural Center. You’re forgiven: It was but…
A little more than one month after a report by Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General accused epidemiologist and longtime Gulf War Syndrome researcher Robert Haley and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center of wasting millions and failing to live up to the terms of a five-year, $75-million…
Early this morning, Lt. Kimberly Stratman, who works in the Dallas Police Department’s Family Violence Squad, called with the breaking news: The DPD has decided to take over the investigation of the cat killings in Northwest Dallas — which, from tales shared and found, sounds far more widespread than the…
Those new “Most Interesting Radio Station in the World” promo spots are sheer genius. I’m only typing LOL because I actually laughed out loud. Whoever does the tag line – I think it’s Gordo? – absolutely nailed it. “I don’t always listen to the radio. But when I do, I…
As expected, Paul Quinn College is making good on its threat to take the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools all the way to federal court for tossing its accreditation. Two days after the SACS denied Paul Quinn’s appeal, the 137-year-old school sued the association in Atlanta federal court, claiming…
Earlier this month, Harvard economic pro Ed Glaeser wrote a series of pieces for The New York Times’s Economix blog in which he argued that a high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston wouldn’t be economically viable. (Keep in mind, this was all hypothetical, since the Obama administration’s “Vision of…
Two weeks ago, at the last minute Mayor Tom Leppert — or was it City Secretary Deborah Watkins … or Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway? — added to the Dallas City Council’s agenda several controversial rules changes that were tabled the night before they were to be discussed. One of…
Random thoughts after a roller-coaster, thrilling, frustrating, sweat-stained best game of the Rangers’ season: *From 0-4 to 2-4 to 7-4 to 7-5 to 10-5 to 10-9, seriously, what a damn entertaining baseball game. *Elvis Andrus turns 21 today. His baseball IQ turns 219. *I watched the game at a bar, so…
We end the day where we began the day, if only because we’ve finally spoken with Dallas Independent School District spokesman Jon Dahlander concerning the critical internal audit of the Adult Basic Education Program, funded last year with $3.7 million in grant money. We were expecting to post the audit…
Maybe you recall the story of Thomas Hannon, who was arrested by Dallas police officers in August 2007 on charges of possessing drugs and a weapon at a LBJ Freeway hotel. Hannon, of course, was guilty of no such thing: A videotape that surfaced just as he was set for…
Christopher Moore, the prof quoted in today’s paper about the physics of punting as it relates, to, oh, I dunno, low-hanging video screens in overwrought football domes, offers plenty more info on his blog concerning hang time and kicking angles; rrrrrrriveting stuff. But, for a moment, back to the Dallas…
So, yeah, one of the Jonas brothers was at the W Hotel in Victory Park yesterday guest-judging American Idol’s Dallas final auditions. Can’t recall which one — Joe, maybe? Nick? Gummo? Tito? Doesn’t matter. But this, er, news (?) has me significantly more interested: Reports E!, Neil Patrick Harris “is…
The furry fellow you see at right is Bill, my across-the-street neighbor’s 12-year-old cat who, sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning, was chopped in half, his front quarters deposited in another neighbor’s front lawn. In a next-door neighbor’s front yard was the back half of a second cat, this…
How timely. Hours ago, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins rebuked The Dallas Morning News for saying he was “sitting on the sidelines” rather than investigating Dallas County Constables Derick Evans and Jaime Cortes’s “too-cozy” relationship with Dowdy Ferry Auto Service. Then, just moments ago, this invite to a 1:30…
Its been more than a month since word broke that the United States Postal Service was considering — or, rather, planning on — moving some operations out of the Dallas Main Post Office on I-30 to a facility in Coppell. Since then, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and Mayor Tom Leppert…
I realize Pudge Rodriguez was brought here with the understanding he’d be a backup. But less than a week into his second coming, scuh-roo that! If starting Pudge throughout the three-game series against the Yankees that starts tonight in New York hurts Taylor Teagarden’s wittle feewings or momentarily thrwarts the…
We’ve said it before: Sooner or later, we’ll own a 7-Eleven location or just work at one. The Dallas-based convenience-store chain’s been making a concerted effort to expand since last summer, and it’s been reaching out to potential franchisees, including the wanna-be boss looking to take over an existing location…
For the last four years, the Texas Department of Transportation and the North Central Texas Council of Governments have been restricting big rigs from driving in the left lane along small sections of I-20 and I-30. And they’re delighted with the results of the pilot program: Dan Kessler, NTCOG assistant…
