Sometimes it seems like all we ever do here at Unfair Park is bitch about the dastardly and frivolous legislation our elected representatives concoct down at the capitol. But not every bill sends us lunging for the bottle. Take this measure, filed by Sen. Bob Deuell of Greenville, barring State…
Chris Wright, whom the Mavericks just signed to a 10-day contract in hopes of patching their depleted backcourt, first felt something go wrong in March 2012. The point guard was playing professional ball in Turkey after going undrafted out of Georgetown the year before. He was running sprints during practice…
If it’s not already there, add Pioneer Parkway in Arlington to the list of places it’s probably wiser not to ride your bike. As you can see above, the two lanes are broad and straight, perfect for cars to pick up speed, with only a narrow shoulder that disappears to…
There was a time when the Highland Hills Crips were a big enough catch that the Feds targeted them with “Operation Greedy Grove” and trumpeted the arrest of several members with a press release. Fast forward two-and-a-half years. It’s Sunday morning, 11 a.m. A youngish gentleman, who might ought to…
Chanon Thompson, a 33-year-old woman from Carrollton, traveled to New Mexico last week and wandered into the Santa Fe National Forest. She made it six or seven miles in, then she realized she couldn’t find her way back, according to ABC News. She spent two nights in freezing temperatures before…
If you need a reminder that Oak Cliff and downtown will soon be linked by street car, head over to the Houston Street and watch as drivers try to get across the viaduct, which is closed for construction. Another reminder: DART just announced that it’s officially sealed a $9.4 million…
Tyrone and Patrick Weatherall had a number of bad habits. Besides the obvious one, their fondness for selling crack, the brothers had lavish, attention-getting taste, which is probably ill-advised when you’re in the drug-selling business. According to street lore, when the Weatheralls first united some Crips and Bloods to form…
It took nearly six years after leaving office for George H.W. Bush to have a functioning North Texas highway named for him. His son could do it in less than five. State Representative Dan Branch has taken it upon himself to see that that happens. On Friday, just before the…
CBS 11’s Ginger Allen broke the story last July: Gracie Robinson, a premature infant born in a Dawson State Jail toilet after guards allegedly refused medical treatment while her mother was in labor, died at four days old. It was one of a string of deaths tied to inadequate medical…
Talk of Dallas serving as a potential host city for the Olympics has ramped up in recent weeks, in part because Dallas attorney Matt Wood has begun work to woo the 2024 Summer Games, and partly because Dallas, along with Tulsa, Oklahoma and Rochester, New York, was one of an…
There is, apparently, an entity known as the North Texas Counterproliferation Task Force. It’s sufficiently new/under the radar to yield exactly zero matches on Google, but it’s a thing, and it’s made up of agents from the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security, and the Departments of Commerce and…
Timothy Woodard and Elizabeth Weaver, 48 and 53, respectively, were at their home in the 3800 block of Davila Drive at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday when they answered a knock at the door. On the porch were two strangers, whom they invited inside. It’s not clear from police reports or a…
One of the few areas of bipartisan agreement in Austin this legislative season is that the state needs to take major steps to meet the state’s long-term water needs. The arithmetic — exploding population + historic drought + increasingly stressed water supply — is simply too stark to ignore. The…
This week, Dallas ISD’s Ross Avenue headquarters was hit with a flurry of teacher resignations, with 279 rank-and-file educators telling the district they were calling it quits. This minor exodus had nothing to do with teachers’ well-known frustration with Superintendent Mike Miles. This was policy. Yesterday was the cutoff for…
Last month, we told you that the Arlington Police Department submitted an application to the Federal Aviation Administration in 2012, asking to please be allowed to use the two small remote control drones they bought. The drones were purchased for a little over $200,000 from Leptron Industrial Robotic Technologies, with…
At first glance, Reddit’s Dallas thread may seem like an innocuous online forum where users engage in remarkably civil dialogue and provide easy content for Dallas’ finest journalists, graciously allowing them to get to the bar before noon. But an in-depth investigation by Unfair Park has revealed a contingent of…
Sometimes, through a lack of foresight or general carelessness, the state legislature passes laws that, while well-intentioned, are so poorly worded as to criminalize things that the criminal justice system probably shouldn’t concern itself. (See: felony penny theft). The latest example could be Senator Dan Patrick’s SB 249, which the…
Tammy Lowe, a 53-year-old Grand Prairie teacher, surrendered to police in January, five days after she allegedly struck and killed 6-year-old John Raidy in a horrific hit-and-run. She was charged with injury to a child and failure to stop and render aid. Now, those charges are about to be dismissed…
Navy SEAL Chris Kyle may have been killed on an Erath County gun range on February 2, but he will live on indefinitely as a life-sized, 6-and-a-half-foot-tall bronze statute. A clay version of the statue arrived in North Texas today flanked by Patriot Guard riders, who typically show up only…
At the end of January, city staff arranged to have the entire City Plan Commission bused to three city-owned sites where Trinity East Energy hopes to drill for natural gas on parkland. This was so commissioners could see for themselves just how drab, un-park-like and eminently frackable they all are…
Last week’s City Council meeting, at which City Manager Mary Suhm was alternately grilled and applauded over her side deal to allow natural gas drilling on city parkland, was an amazing piece of political theater. How could it not be, what with Vonciel Jones Hill donning her preacher voice and…
Update, 3:52 p.m.: The Dallas Morning News’ Jennifer Emily tweets that the case against Hill has been dismissed. Judge Levario cited Watkins’ refusal to testify as part of her basis for dismissal. Original post: Craig Watkins wasn’t sick today, and contrary to the inexplicably wrong tweets from one TV news…
