Mark Cuban Going Broke A Full Frontal exclusive investigation Earlier this year, Forbes magazine noted that Dallas Mavericks and HDNet owner Mark Cuban is the 437th richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion. An 11-month investigation of Cuban’s assets, however, reveals a different figure:…
For much of the hour it took to introduce Keyshawn Johnson to the Dallas media, most everyone in the room deferred to the Cowboys’ newest wideout, who was all too happy to talk and talk and talk. At times he was challenged–asked about his often obstinate personality, about the perception…
Icebox Murder Texas’ Dark Ages: I just read “Boxed In” (by Keven McAlester, March 11). Stories like this really unnerve me–the kind in which people are blamed even when much evidence goes to the contrary. We’d like to think that things like this can never happen anymore. They’re an act…
A fugitive from the law for more than a year, former SMU student Douglas Havard is alive and thriving in Hong Kong. No, Spain. Well, try Central Europe. Rio de Janeiro? No, Doug Havard, now 21, is wheeling and dealing in Austin. All of those locations have been reported as…
You’ll forgive Buzz if he’s feeling a little sentimental this week. It seems all the good ones are leaving us too soon: Bob Edwards is leaving the hosting gig at NPR Morning Edition; Jack Valenti and his platinum hair are leaving the Motion Picture Association of America; Jabari, the Dallas…
It was growing grim around here. The Cowboys were stagnant for months, and it only got worse once free agency began. While the rest of the league drove armored cars filled with cash to the homes of various players, or made high-profile trades, Dallas remained quiet. There were rumors about…
A Tear for Mr. Buzz The sound of silence: How can you be surprised? (Buzz, March 18.) These are the same readers who haven’t uttered a peep about the additional funds given to the American Airlines Center folks, and there still hasn’t been development around the center. When a story…
Shelly Martin was bone tired from the countless hours she spent at the bedside of her sick friend, but she figured she had better return to the hospital, and fast. For the last 10 days, Mike Scarcella had been in the intensive care unit at Presbyterian Hospital of Plano. Now…
On February 20, or seven months later than promised, the five major music labels and some retailers began sending out checks for $13.86 to people who bought CDs from 1995 to 2000 and felt, Jeez, ya know, I paid too much for that CD. The checks are the result of…
We here at the Dallas Observer do read and sometimes even care about the letters you send us; they serve as a handy barometer of how we’re being received. So with that in mind, we’d like to ask a question: What is up with you people? Sorry. Shouldn’t criticize the…
Re: Your New Job! Don Nelson should really keep better track of his correspondence. Once again, we’ve intercepted one of his missives, this one meant for Avery Johnson, the former Dallas Mavericks point guard now exiled to Golden State. Nellie asked Johnson if he wants to be a coach on…
Free Murders Get out of jail free: It’s 1981; you are a serial killer and have just moved to the murder capital of the world, Houston, Texas. The killers here know what law-abiding citizens don’t, that there is nothing here to stop them from killing. It’s now 2004, and by…
SURPRISE, Arizona–Across the way, just beyond the cart path and behind the cheap rope that separates royalty from the serfs–that is, players and personnel from fans and media–former Rangers great Jim Sundberg stands on the calisthenics field and smiles broadly. Both arms are outstretched, as though he’s being measured by…
Wednesday, July 22, 1959: As near as he can remember it, Robert LeRoy Miller was just sitting on the porch of his parents’ home. He was 13, about to enter the seventh grade, and he’d been idling away his summer in a languid blur of marbles, neighborhood boxing matches and…
For the first time in his long career of homicidal violence against women, Texas prisoner Coral Eugene Watts has been charged with murder–thanks to a man who saw a television show about Watts, recalled something he’d witnessed 25 years ago and telephoned Michigan authorities. For two years, victims’ families have…
SURPRISE, Arizona–It’s a damp, overcast day. Not what you’d expect in the Cactus League. The Rangers are playing another intra-squad scrimmage. No one, save the knot of fans sitting just behind the Rangers dugout, is particularly thrilled with the idea of another intra-squad scrimmage. The players least of all. The…
Buzz is going to keep it short this week because we have a whopper of a headache, thanks to one Larry S. Kilgore, Republican candidate for the Texas House. It’s not his fault, really. When we spoke to Kilgore about his problem–we’ll get to that in a bit; hang on–he…
Hardball Repubs You nailed them: Mr. Gonzalez, If you continue writing articles that paint a less than favorable picture of the sitting president, you will make an enemy of not just a man, but a whole party, and a wealthy, powerful Texas family. You live in Texas, correct? Maybe it…
McKinney, May 16, 2002, 1:33 p.m. “McKinney, 911,” answers a female dispatcher, sounding somewhat blasé. “What was the address of your emergency?” “Yes, ah…I am at the hospital at North Central Medical Center,” says a male caller. “Uh-huh.” “Right behind the professional building,” he continues, his twang as pronounced as…
Shortly after the Dallas Cowboys lost their playoff game at Carolina and before head coach Bill Parcells went into hibernation for the winter, he gathered the local media and offered us free counsel. The team was heading in the right direction, he said, but he cautioned us not to get…
About a year ago, Mike Murphy and his pal J.J. Miller were at his pad in Frisco shooting pool over a few cold beers and lamenting the state of politics. Murphy, who is now 30, and Miller, 33, couldn’t find a candidate whose ideas and values meshed with theirs, and…
Top Dog K. Todd Freeman, 38, and David Rainey, 44, starring in Topdog/Underdog at the Dallas Theater Center through March 21, have been playing the roles of brothers Booth and Lincoln since early last fall. Their performances drew raves from critics in Chicago and Houston, where both actors are company…
