Done Deal: Kidd’s a Mav. Again.

No more Hope-ing: Jason Kidd’s back in a Mavs uni as of seconds ago. Ready or not, Jason Kidd is a Dallas Maverick. After a week of machinations and maneuvers that took the deal from imminent to insane, the NBA just minutes ago finally stamped its approval. I’ll have more…

Dead-End For HBO’s Set-in-Dallas 12 Miles of Bad Road?

Lily Tomlin as, ahem, Dallas real estate giant Amelia Shakespeare In case you’ve forgotten, as the initial announcement came down nearly two years ago, HBO was all set to launch a new series titled 12 Miles of Bad Road, in which Lily Tomlin stars as a Dallas real estate agent…

You Will Never Have This Many Star Wars Action Figures. Ever.

This morning, Gizmodo offers this “exclusive”: The Biggest Star Wars Collection in the Galaxy. And, no, I don’t note this just to appeal to the 4-year-old who lives in my house — turns out, the estimable collection (documented with 134 photos, good God) belongs to a local named Rob Foster,…

What Does Channel 11 Have Against John McCain, Anyway?

The Dallas Police Department’s Web site isn’t up at the moment, and they dunno when it’ll be operational again. KTVT-Channel 11 knows why: Because the site was hacked yesterday with anti-gummint sloganeering and artwork courtesy hackers identifying themselves as “s2rangers from Russia,” which was also an underrated early-1980s ABC sitcom…

Counting Down to Craig Watkins and The “Missing” JFK Loot

During his nightly Countdown, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann yesterday had as his chart-topper Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins’ “discovery” of docs and doodads related to the assassination of John Kennedy. Said the sports anchor-turned-Mini-Murrow, Watkins presented the materials yesterday “with a dose of provocation, whether intentional or not,” then brought…

Monster Jam at Reunion Arena, Followed by Barack Obama

Barack Obama’s campaign has, at long last, announced the time and place for his Wednesday shindig in downtown Dallas: It’ll take place at 11:30 a.m. at Reunion Arena, with doors opening at 10:30 a.m. Seems his local folks’ wishes were granted: Told you this morning they were hoping for a…

Well, This is What the Old Carnival Would Have Looked Like

What could have been but won’t be, not anymore. Just returned to the office to find a missive in the in-box from Marc Andres — who, with his brother Roger, wants to take the abandoned Carnival on Henderson Avenue and turn it into a multi-use residential-retail development. Pardon — they…

No Honeymoon Suite For These Two at Convention Center Hotel

Mitchell Rasansky’s “extremely upset” over the mayor’s plans to rush through this convention center hotel. Earlier this morning, Unfair Park mentioned that during tomorrow’s Economic Development Committee meeting, council members will discuss spending $41.3 million of taxpayers’ money to acquire land upon which Mayor Tom Leppert wants to build a…

Home, Sweet, Foreclosed Home

Associated Press story out of Cleveland says the homeless are taking advantage of the foreclosure crisis by moving into the hastily abandoned houses in residential areas — which is better than your average empty home, since many of them still have electricity and running water. Says one ex-con-turned-squatter quoted in…

Dirk on Dirk Ad: “It’s Definitely Good.”

Till I can find a better version of the NBA’s “Where Amazing Happens” ad featuring Dirk Nowitzki, which debuted last night during the NBA All-Star Game, this shot-off-a-TV version will have to do. One significant note: It’s the first player-produced ad — which is why Dirk told the Fort Worth…

Hillary’s Other Big Secret: How Texas’ Primary System Works

No word yet on when and where Barack Obama will be appearing Wednesday — not even his local campaign operatives know anything. And, yes, they too have heard all the rumors that have the Illinois senator appearing mid-morning at a local church, Fair Park or even the American Airlines Center…

Deal or No Deal?

NBA.com Keith Van Horn, now more useful than ever All this dramatic transaction has been missing is Howie Mandel, 25 suitcases and a stage full of models. But now — maybe, just maybe — it’s over. With the NBA’s league office pondering the Mavericks’ reconfigured trade for Jason Kidd at…

Crimes and Misdemeanors

Lynn Flint Shaw Nice editorial in today’s Dallas Morning News asking, erm, Why wasn’t Lynn Flint Shaw charged with a felony rather than a misdemeanor for allegedly forging Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins’ signature? Only, one thing Dallas’ Only Daily fails to note today: Allen Gwinn’s been asking the…

And Here’s How We’ll Pay for the Convention Center Hotel

For those who like to get a jump on their city government’s weekly doings, here’s one of the agenda items for tomorrow morning’s meeting of the city council’s Economic Development Committee: the plan for purchasing the land necessary to build the convention center hotel Mayor Tom’s rushing through without explaining…

Obama’s Dallas Beachhead — And the Food Ain’t Bad, Either

While Hillary Clinton stumps in South Texas and Bill’s in East Texas, local Barack Obama supporters have commandeered Texas Caribbean Foods, a cozy restaurant at Southside on Lamar, as a gathering place and center of operations. They’re busy making phone calls to garner more foot soldiers and holding meetings on…

Child’s Play

Waytago, Stack. Waytago. The deeper we look into the Jason Kidd trade, the more obvious it is that the Mavericks screwed it up. Big time. First, Dallas apparently didn’t take time to make sure Devean George would be cool with being dealt to New Jersey — or anywhere else, for…

Pay Up or Get Rounded Up

A Friend of Unfair Park who’s looking to do you a solid points our attention to this missive from the City of Dallas — a little something about the 2008 Statewide Warrant Roundup. As in, “Beginning Feb.16, officers will arrest people with outstanding warrants pending before their respective municipal courts.”…

Service Employees Union Backs Obama, Hoping to Help in Texas

Today, the ginormous 2-million-member Service Employees International Union, which reps everyone from nurses to janitors, endorsed Barack Obama for president of the U.S. and A. Which is no small thing: Says the union in its media release, it has “more than 150,000 members in the upcoming primary states, including Wisconsin,…

Dallas Man Freaks Out Freakonomics Author With Lengthy E-Mail

Erik Hille of Dallas has really, totally and absolutely impressed Freakonomics co-author Stephen J. Dubner. Seems the Freakonomics fellas a couple of weeks ago referenced their chapter on crime — specifically, the factoid that “the average sixty-five-year-old person is about one-fiftieth as likely to be arrested as the average teenager.”…