Holiday gift shopping often entails walking the tightrope between creativity and desperation and, occasionally, falling off into one or the other. Companies, too, seem to enjoy threading the thin line in hopes of continuing to sustain our interest long enough that we pony up and buy whatever they’re peddling this…
In a broad sense, this is all Beto O’Rourke’s fault. If the former U.S. representative had just listened — to activists, party insiders, polls or basically anyone not living in his own head — and run for U.S. Senate rather that president, Texas Democrats would already be in general election…
On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to hear a case involving the criminalization of homelessness, letting stand an appeals court ruling that an ordinance banning camping on the streets in Boise was unconstitutional. “As long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people…
Social media is doing its best to destroy the news industry. Temperamental algorithms shift page views — oxygen for publications like the Observer — up or down, seemingly on a whim. Anonymity means abuse flows freely from trolls to journalists, further wearying reporters working in newsrooms that have already seen their…
On Tuesday morning, three police cruisers shepherded two trucks through the empty streets of South Dallas. Every few blocks, the caravan stopped in front of a homeless encampment and a small army of men in white coveralls jumped out to clear it away. Tommy Renfrow, who had pitched his tent…
Hallelujah, the angels sing, after all. Well, my version of angels. My better angels are those local public officials who have integrity, intelligence and guts. They’re better than the ones who don’t, right? Last week a posse of better angels stepped up, including a few who were unelected citizens, and…
Dallas has the fifth highest rate of traffic fatalities in the country. This week, the City Council approved the creation of a task force to address the issue and adopted goals to reduce fatalities in the future.
Southwest Airlines workers will get a nine-figure piece of their Dallas-based employer’s settlement with Boeing, the airline announced Thursday. The settlement comes with the Boeing 737 MAX, a key component of both Southwest’s and American Airlines’ fleets, still grounded because of two crashes that killed more than 300. The terms…
East Texas congressman and friend of the Observer Louie Gohmert is, as one might imagine, having himself quite the time during the U.S. House’s impeachment hearings. Several times a day, whether any of his colleagues like it or not, Gohmert gets five minutes alone with the House Judiciary Committee microphone and…
Nearly a fifth of the nation’s youngest uninsured children live in Texas, a stark reminder that the state has some of the most restrictive policies in the nation governing healthcare benefits for its most vulnerable residents. More than 8% of Texan children under the age of 6 are not insured, according…
Six years later, the legal battle between Dallas and Kelvion Walker is over. Wednesday afternoon, the Dallas City Council voted unanimously to give Walker $610,000, settling an ongoing federal lawsuit over a 2013 shooting. In December 2013, Dallas Police Department officer Amy Wilburn shot Walker as Walker sat in the…
The mayor wants an answer to the city’s astronomical murder rate — twice San Antonio’s, four times Austin’s — right away from the city manager. I can think of a quick way to get there. Release the record of 911 calls from Jim’s Car Wash. Wait. I’m serious. This is about…
President Donald Trump had a Hanukkah reception at the White House on Wednesday afternoon. That would’ve been weird enough, given that the president told an Israeli American organization Saturday that they had “no choice” to vote for him because Elizabeth Warren would “take 100% of (their) wealth away,” but Trump…
There’s a condition, one you’ve probably heard of if you’ve happened on any right-wing media over the last three years or have any acolytes of the president in your social circle, called Trump Derangement Syndrome. The idea is that Democrats and progressives have been driven to the brink by President…
A group of 16 law professors from Texas universities were among hundreds of legal scholars who signed an open letter stating President Donald Trump has “engaged in impeachable conduct.” The letter, which was addressed to Congress, was posted Friday on Medium. In the letter, the legal experts say they take…
For over a decade, Genaro Garcia Luna was in charge of former Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s violent crackdown on the country’s cartels. But instead of hunting drug traffickers, Luna allowed them to operate with impunity in exchange for multimillion-dollar bribes, according to a federal indictment unsealed on Tuesday. Luna was arrested…
In a casual conversation about suburban public schools and ethnic diversity recently, I noticed that the person with whom I was chatting did not believe the presence of Asian American students in a school system should be counted toward diversity. In fact, she sort of felt it worked the other…
This fall, Dallas Stars head coach Jim Montgomery was in trouble. His team, fresh off a surprise performance in the playoffs, began their 2019-20 campaign 1-7-1, striking a blow to their hope of returning to the postseason. Then Montgomery righted the ship, leading his team to a 16-4-2 record in…
Last year, Dallas’ police and fire departments teamed up with Parkland Hospital to rethink how they responded to 911 calls involving mental health crises. They placed a social worker inside the dispatch center to triage calls and sent out a special team staffed with a mental health professional whenever possible…
After months of chronic failure, frustration and inaction, the Dallas Cowboys addressed one of their fans’ biggest issues with the team Monday, firing someone who it’s hard to believe hung on this long. Not that guy. Not the other one either. No, it’s likely the third or fourth guy on…
There’s a chance, if someone isn’t from Texas and doesn’t watch much cable news, that he or she blessedly hasn’t had much exposure to East Texas’ U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert. For those babes in the proverbial woods, seeing Gohmert on TV in all his reddening glory must come with a…
The Observer spends a lot of time — perhaps too much time, according to some of you in the peanut gallery — trying to read between the lines. The words that politicians, preachers and Dallas Cowboys owners say often aren’t as important as the subtext. Sometimes, though, when the sun is…
