You might remember the headlines back in May about some unsavory accusations against the Dallas Mexican Consulate — the ones that dubbed the place “a lawless world where rules do not exist, where corruption, ethical violations, bribery and kickbacks reign supreme?” In the last few months, we’ve covered the story…
Everybody knew it was about “pay-to-play” at City Hall. Don Hill, a former city council member and 13 alleged confederates are accused of strong-arming real estate developers for money.But nobody knew…1. Carol Reed’s name would come up. Reed is the top political guru and campaign consultant to the old Dallas…
Shortly after Elm Street-based Blockbuster reported its second-quarter stats Thursday evening, chairman and CEO Jim Keyes hopped on an investors’ conference call to explain, yet again, what ails the former video-rental giant. The usual, of course: Netflix, shitty movies, the used-DVD and gaming market, slow transitions to digital delivery and…
Six years ago, Cynthia Fitzgerald filed in Dallas federal court a complaint that The New York Times predicted in 2007 “could become one of the largest whistle-blower lawsuits on record.” The suit stemmed from Fitzgerald’s tenure at Novation — a company HQ’d on John Carpenter Freeway that sells medical supplies…
A few afternoon follow-ups to some morning items, plus a note from City Hall, where pink slips are going out in advance of tomorrow’s scheduled layoffs. (Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm says she’s laying off 840, with the hopes of hiring back 500.) Rudy has word about some losses at…
John Mackey’s no stranger to a little controversy, especially the online-first Mark Cubanesque variety. But the Whole Foods co-founder took it up a notch with his Tuesday guest editorial in The Wall Street Journal, in which he takes issue with universal public health care proposals, and offers his eight tips…
On the drive home from the office Tuesday, ’round 7 p.m., I got struck in a sudden snarl on the Dallas North Tollway between Oak Lawn and Mockingbird. Turned out, the cause of the logjam was a familiar one: a few stunt riderz on motorcycles zigging and zagging through traffic…
I know it’s only August. It’s only pre-season. But it is, after all, football. Tonight at 9 on Channel 11 and 105.3 The Fan we officially begin washing 44-6 out of our mouths. What will you be watching tonight? As for me … …
Since so many of you were wondering, we’re passing along word the Dallas District Office of Texas Department of Transportation is checking to see if the grass growing on the side of the highway is viable for livestock feed. After we wrote about this rancher who drove six hours north…
With all arms of the government digging around for ways to green up their operations, the Dallas VA Medical Center is jumping into the renewable energy pool feet-first, capitalizing on one of its greatest resources: a huge roof.Says the latest issue of Resource Week, the hospital’s wrapped a project to…
A Friend of Unfair Park wonders: Why isn’t Dallas participating in National GoTopless Protest Day on August 23, to which I replied, “Apparently, it’s not too late.” Nudge, nudge. ‘Round the same time, a Queer Liberaction member sent a reminder concerning The Great Nationwide Kiss-In scheduled for Saturday — Dallas’s…
To no one’s surprise, on Wednesday evening the Landmark Commission’s Central Business District Task Force denied, unanimously, Colby Properties’ request to tear down 508 Park Avenue. The simple reason: The three members of the task force do not buy the owners’ claim that the 1920s-era structure is an “imminent threat…
Missed this one yesterday, mostly because Dallas Independent School District trustee Carla Ranger doesn’t post to her blog as often as she used to. But one thing’s got her attention: Fellow trustee Ron Price’s proposal to rename schools for President Barack Obama and Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of…
The item on today’s City Plan Commission agenda reads as dry as stale Melba toast: “An application to create 7 lots from 259.199 acres located in several tracts of land in City Blocks 8298, 8299, 8300, 8303, 8304 and 8305, on Telephone Road, east of Dallas Avenue.” The applicant is…
After trading today, Elm Street-based Blockbuster will released its second-quarter financials — “and the numbers are expected to be ugly,” notes Investor’s Business Daily in this pre-game warm-up that also wonders if the video-rental business’s days aren’t, gulp, “numbered.” The cause for alarm? As usual, of late, a big hunk…
Was checking out Channel 8’s sports last night when I was presented with classic Dale Hansen. Not unplugged exactly. How about unglued? As Hansen began his recap of Rangers 5, Indians 0, the video didn’t exactly cooperate. While he beamed about Tommy Hunter’s pitching and Josh Hamilton’s hitting, the screen – for…
San Antonio: Chicks and birdies have been usurped by X’s and O’s. At least that’s what the Dallas Cowboys and quarterback Tony Romo want us to believe. After the first two weeks of training camp at The Alamodome, it’s difficult to argue otherwise. For the first time in a long…
Immodest proposal: Buzz has yet to weigh in on the draconian budget cuts facing City Hall, which could spell layoffs for 840 city employees, because, frankly, no one at City Hall has offered us an exorbitant fee for our advice. Given the way city government operates, as revealed at the…
The whole sordid story began with a pile of concrete and a malfunctioning Bobcat. On a hot, sticky Monday in mid-August 2006, crews in downtown Dallas were hard at work renovating The Merc—the distinctive World War II-era bank tower known for its clock and spire. Mid-redo, the historic building resembled…
Family law judge David Hanschen may have received an “Excellent” job approval rating of just 14 percent on the Dallas Bar Association’s 2009 Judicial Evaluation Poll, but he’s celebrating a victory in what had been a bitter struggle for him just last year. After facing off with the Office of…
If you’ve been following the Junius Heights Turf War, you know that it’s getting more heated than the leather inside my car in August.Since Jose Escobedo’s meeting with the Landmark Commission on August 3, his application for a Certificate of Appropriateness has been denied. Escobedo already vowed to appeal the…
Hard to say who’s the bigger draw at this weekend’s Dallas Comic Con at the Richardson Civic Center: Dean Stockwell, the 64-year acting vet who’s got the sci-fi skins on the wall (Battlestar Galactica, Quantum Leap and Dune — quite the trifecta) to go along with the critical cred (Blue…
