Yesterday, in an Oak Cliff Justice of the Peace courtroom, two tenants celebrated a victory in their quest for decent living conditions. Judge Juan Jasso ruled in favor of Ramona Robles and Rigoberto Gutierrez, who, after filing complaints with the city about unbearable temperatures at their Lancaster Avenue apartment building,…
This is probably a way-too-early heads-up, but I just opened the afternoon mail to find a copy of Tinsel: A Search for America’s Christmas Present, due on bookshelves ’round November 12 — just in time for all your gift-giving needs. And, trust me, those living up in Collin and Denton…
Had no idea till receiving the press release moments ago that Paul Budnitz’s Kidrobot was opening an outpost in Mockingbird Station on Thursday. The Melrose Avenue joint in Los Angeles is quite the kidult nerdboy hang; during a handful of visits there over the years, I don’t think I’ve ever…
Bud Gillett is still at KTVT-Channel 11 — says so right on the station’s Web site, where he’s hailed as the most veteran reporter at CBS 11 News with 33 years in major market television news, the last 26 years working the streets of Dallas/Fort Worth.” But, as Ed Bark…
This morning at Dallas Area Rapid Transit HQ, president Gary Thomas lauded the rail expansion as “on time and under budget,” and presented a new study by professors at the University of North Texas’s Center for Economic Development and Research on the expansion’s economic impact on the city. Said Thomas:…
Went back to Lone Star Auctions this morning to check on how my horse bidding was going, and I noticed quite the steal — once again courtesy the Dallas Independent School District, which is in the habit of offloading its surplus for The Nice Price and then some. All told,…
Dunno how this went unnoticed, but yesterday Dallas city council member Angela Hunt posted to her Web site a few paragraphs about how, look, she really doesn’t care that Mayor Tom Leppert didn’t make her a chair or vice-chair of one of the city council’s standing committees. Far as she’s…
The second full day of testimony from affordable housing developer Brian Potashnik strengthened the prosecution’s case against former city plan commissioner D’Angelo Lee in the City Hall corruption case, but federal prosecutor Marcus Busch concluded his direct examination of Potashnik Thursday without directly linking former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill…
A Friend of Unfair Park sends the bad news:I went to Vern’s in Deep Ellum for lunch today and found it closed! No more home cooking. The hand-lettered sign said they’re out of business.A Deep Ellum landlord who just went by the place confirms it, and the owner of a…
Greg Williams is a recovering addict. Wednesday was one of those bad days. Friday he’ll be back on the air with Richard Hunter. Hopefully it will be a good day. “Yesterday he was a little off,” Hunter said during his show on Rational Radio 1360 AM moments ago. “But we…
Local MoveOn.org members had penciled in on today’s schedule a protest in front of Senator John Cornyn’s Spring Valley Road office, during which they had hoped to pressure the senator to support President Barack Obama’s public health care legislation. But when Paula Anderson, a MoveOn.org member and spokeswoman, showed up…
A good Friend of Unfair Park passes along the video below — a newish TV (wha?) spot created by the folks at the Texas Nationalist Movement (who, I see, have an eat-and-greet scheduled in Mansfield this weekend). Notes our Friend, “I love the Sam Houston quote, because he never favored…
A Dallas County security officer who worked at the Frank Crowley Courts Building was fired on Monday for a number of reasons, including being a morale-buster. But Charlotte Hardy insists the real reason she was fired was because she told higher-ups that officers at the Crowley are sleeping on the…
When we first reached out to Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson’s office last week to discuss the United States Postal Service’s study concerning moving some operations from the Dallas Main Post Office to Coppell, we got no response. Then came a brief statement. A few days later, there was this letter…
I know the Texas Rangers swept the previously mighty Boston Red Sox and we’re all atwitter about the American League West division race heading into August … September … maybe even October? But what if baseball were governed according to, say, European football standards? You know, the top teams rewarded…
Back at the end of June, the U.S. Attorney’s Office sent word that it has arrested 25-year-old Jesse William McGraw — otherwise known as “GhostExodus,” founder and ostensibly the leader of the Electronik Tribulation Army — for threatening to cause serious damage to the computer systems at the Carrell Clinic…
Shortly after Intern Alex wrote this strong piece, we wondered what had become of the Timbercreek Apartments on Northwest Highway and Skillman. Schutze exposed the city council vote in May 2006 when Mayor Laura Miller stood alone in opposing new zoning that kicked families, trees and wildlife to the curb…
If you have time for a quick trip ’round the world this morning, check out the home page of World Villages of Grapevine — home of the alleged $70-million indoor ski jump announced yesterday. (I say “alleged” only because, well, back in ’06, you may recall, we were promised a…
[Editor’s note: Rawlins Gilliland penned this tribute to legendary local figure Jean Carpenter in advance of this morning’s memorial service, during which he will read several pieces of poetry at the family’s request. We had intended to post earlier, but a server issue delayed that.]At this very moment at Holy…
Nearly all of the 16 jurors grabbed their notebooks and focused on Brian Potashnik as the prosecution Wednesday morning called the witness expected to provide the most damning evidence in the City Hall corruption case. But while Potashnik’s testimony raised concerns about the ethics of some of the five defendants,…
Bless Greg Williams. The guy, as you know, has a history. Now, alongside Richard Hunter on Rational Radio 1360 AM, he has a second third chance. We’ve heard him wacko before. Yesterday afternoon … I dunno – you tell me. He arrived late. Fumbled with his headphones. Gave out The Ticket’s phone number. Apparently…
Too smart: Buzz, being a geek, was pretty excited about the rollout of new-fangled “smart meters” in Texas by Oncor, the giant electric transmission company. A new gadget that allows us to see exactly how we’re using electricity by measuring consumption in 15-minute increments and even allows us to monitor…
