For a brief moment, we considered getting up early to check out the Black Friday scene — and Steely Dan’s as far as we got. (And, for those in actual need of actual information, this compendium of online sales, sales, sales!) But former Observer-er Ann Zimmerman, now at The Wall…
Don’t look now, but we suck. There are 120 major college football teams. Only two enter this final Saturday of the regular season with just one win. Grab a barf bag, the autopsies on SMU and North Texas get even more gruesome. As if matching 1-10 records weren’t enough to…
Aware that J.D. Hayworth was poised to run against her, Governor Napolitano took a page from the anti-immigrant playbook and deployed the National Guard to Arizona’s border with Mexico. Consorting with anti-immigrant enforcers, indulging rank opportunism, and adhering to failed policies seem an unlikely recipe for change we can believe…
“Ye of Little Faith,” by Margaret Downing, November 13 The Real Fraud I read with great interest your article on Texas Mutual Insurance and Ms. Nichols’ comments that the “system” doesn’t need legal or judicial advice. As a practicing physician who has participated in the workers’ compensation system both as…
There goes the neighborhood: When Inclusive Communities Project Inc.’s lawsuit against the town of Flower Mound crossed Buzz’s desk last week, we had one of those “gambling in Casablanca” moments. ICP, a nonprofit that helps poor families use federal public housing vouchers to rent homes in non-minority neighborhoods, is accusing…
As I mentioned earlier, Ed Bark has retreived from the Wayback Machine this Thanksgiving must-see, which comes courtesy some YouTuber named “turkeybowler,” who rolled this strike back in June. As we’re trying to hustle out most of next week’s issue in advance of some holiday tomorrow, seems only fitting that,…
The missus reports this afternoon that the Preston Royal Shopping Center is getting a new tenant, according to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission private-club permit application hanging in the window of the former Gap Kids in the Border’s parking lot. The name on the handwritten application: “Taco Mundo,” which surely…
Uncle Barky breaks the bad news: The great Brad Hawkins, long a favorite of ours, is leaving WFAA-Channel 8 on Christmas Eve. Why come? He’s taking a public relations gig at Southwest Airlines. Really? Really: “I’m at a crossroads in terms of opening myself to new challenges and new skills,”…
Kristen Hayes at the Houston Chronicle writes today that there’s something eerily familiar about Dallas-based Blockbuster’s, um, blockbuster (?) announcement yesterday concerning its new $100 box that allows for on-demand rentals. Has to do with a turn-of-the-millennium deal between Blockbuster and Enron — yes, that Enron — which held hands…
I could get my premature Scrooge on and predict that Pacman Jones showing up at last night’s Mavericks-Pacers game is a precursor to him – surprise! – eschewing voluntary house arrest to ultimately find more trouble. But I won’t do that. Not today. On Thanksgiving eve let’s just be…
Just to see what’s open and what ain’t these days, Texas Watchdog’s Jennifer Peebles sifted through a stack of November 12 rulings handed down by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office concerning open records requests. Today, she posts the results.About half of the opinions concern requests generated from the Dallas-Fort…
Gather the kiddies ’round the warm glow of the computer monitor: The Jonas Brothers were on CNN this morning! And they were sitting on the field at Texas Stadium, where, tomorrow, they’ll perform during halftime of Cowboys-Seahawks to kick off the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Christmas charity campaign. Incidentally, this…
Wonkette this morning ran an e-mail from a Texan who wants to secede from the Union — what else is new, right? The reason for the missive, which lays out the ways in which the great state will survive all by its lonesome, thanks very much? Writes the mysterious Hotmailer:…
My son hates green beans. Faced with a plate of them, he’ll eat a couple, suck on a couple more, tear two or three apart and, ultimately, smash/push his veggies into a pile and pronounce: “Done!” Unless, of course, I consult the Parenting 101 guide and resort to reverse…
DISD school board trustee Carla Ranger Took her a few days for her to respond, but, at last, Dallas Independent School District trustee Carla Ranger has posted a lengthy essay concerning the school board’s Thursday-night vote to extend the trustees’ terms from three to four years. Ranger, who’s already called…
Stories like this are why we’ve opted for the Termibot. Hell of a way to kill bugs. Courtesy Courthouse News Service this morning comes this story out of Plano: Laura Grant is suing Terminex in a McKinney courthouse, claiming that in March of this year a termite inspector named Mark…
Yup, says so right here on CQ Press’ 2008 City Crime Rate Rankings: The fine, fair city of Allen’s a Top 10’er when it comes to safety among 385 cities in the country — and not far below, why, you’ll find the likes of Frisco (at No. 16) and Plano…
One week into November, Dallas- and Wyoming-based BTWW Retail, L.P. — owner of, among other cowboy-wear outlets, Western Warehouse and Boot Town — filed for bankruptcy protection in the Dallas federal courthouse. Two weeks later, BTWW has decided to shut ‘er down entirely: Beginning tomorrow, everything must go, as Western…
A couple of months back, D ran David Feherty’s riveting account of his collision with a pickup on Park Lane; figured his being able to live and write about his smash-up was what the Sporting News was referring to today when it ran the piece headlined “A week when David…
Courtesy the mighty fine folks who contribute to the conversation on the Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum comes this montage of Merc photos, some by familiar Friends. Also a bonus for fans of Daft Punk. –Robert WilonskyDallas | The Mercantile (Slideshow) from Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum on Vimeo…
*If you’ve noticed some quirky fonts or crooked pictures this week it’s because Sportatorium is taking a fancy schmancy new software program for a test drive. Cool thing for you customers is that if you see a pic you’d like to see even bigger – like, I dunno, maybe…
View image Danny Fine, left, and Bob Musgrave in an outtake from Bottle Rocket Spent the better part of last night watching every single second and scrap on the Criterion Collection Wes Anderson-approved Bottle Rocket two-fer, available today (ya think?), and there are copious revelations contained therein. Such as: The…
